


Of Keys and Locks

by starsinjars



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Pie, Portal Spoilers, detective conan xover, idk how to tag this, invader zim xover, moved from ffnet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 09:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1130861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsinjars/pseuds/starsinjars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of my Kingdom Hearts fics moved from ffnet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sora and the Legendary Waffle Sword

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first ever fanfic.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl in a giant castle. She had blonde hair and dull blue eyes and wore a small white dress. She was waiting for her rescuer to come and save her. She loved to draw, and one day she decided to draw a story to entertain herself. She decided to draw a dog, a rather goofy one at that. His name was GIR. He was green with black ears, a black tail, and he giggled instead of barked. Or meowed. Actually, it could talk and say pretty much whatever he wanted. She thought of how great it would be to have a puppy like this. They would be best friends and never be apart. She soon dreamed up a story about GIR...

One day, GIR wandered through the castle. He smelled waffles! "Oh My Gosh! WAFFLES!," he thought. He went to the kitchen to find some waffles to eat. But when he went to the kitchen, there were NO waffles yet. GIR started to spaz out at the thought of no waffles. He needed waffles - he needed them or he will explode, for that tends to happen sometimes. Like when he doesn't get tacos. He stepped out of the kitchen, determined to complete his quest for waffles.

On he went from store to store, house to house, and lots more. He even checked out outer space. No luck. He then went back to earth. He saw a sign, "Waffles Here!" as he landed. He wagged his tail and flapped his ears. GIR ran towards the sign and tried to find the waffles. He smelled them for sure, so he began to follow the scent. He got to the store, and the owner said, "We're sorry, we just sold the last waffles." GIR was sad and sadly wandered back towards the castle. He decided to get the legendary waffle sword, a sword that was rumored to create waffles . The sword smelled like waffles and syrup. His mouth watered at the thought of it. He got on his pink and sparkly pig, and rode off into the sunset to find his yummy waffles.

Just then, the door opened. The girl stopped with her story and started to stare at her rescuer. He had spiky brown hair and was wearing red armor. She stared and stared, and didn't hear what this man said. "Hello? I'm sorry, is your name Kairi?" "No, my name is Namine." "Huh. Oops." Oh well. I'm in a castle, I'll just save this damsel in distress. He thought. He then looked up to look at the girl in the eyes. "You need rescuing? Let's go! I'm Sora, by the way." "Thank you! Nice to meet ya!" The girl stood up from her chair, and walked to the other side of the room to her knight in red, pumpkin shorts, armor. She noticed a sword on his back. "Is that sword what I think it is?" "Oh, no. It doesn't look like a key or anything. It's the all-powerful legendary waffle sword." "NO WAY. WAFFLES! GIMME SOME!" They exited the castle the castle, with their mouths full of waffles.


	2. Would the TRUE Keyblade Bearer Please Stand Up?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora has an existential crisis. Ven tries to help. He doesn't seem to be helping. Neither is Vanitas. Perhaps they all should have just checked in to the mental hospital like Roxas suggested. Or perhaps they already did. Many pairings with a surprise cameo!

"So it has been brought to my attention that there are currently..." Sora lifted up his hand and began to count. "One, two, three... at least five keyblade wielders at this point in time."

Kairi dispersed her own key and looked at Sora. "And the point of that is...?"

Sora sighed. "Okay, well, I thought that I was like the Chosen One or something like that because I could wield the keyblade. Me and only me. So what the hell with you guys having them too? I mean, I understand why Roxas has it, since he's technically me or something along those lines, but that doesn't explain the others!" Sora gave it another thought, "Well, except for the King, being the key of darkness while mine's of light."

"Someone's got a superiority complex..." A voice muttered in the not so far distance, which was followed by a giggle, but was both ignored.

"Who are the others?" Riku asked, not looking up from his book.

Sora raised a finger for each name said. "Me, you, King Mickey, Roxas, and Kairi."

There was a chuckle behind Sora that made him jump. "You're missing quite a few there."

"Huh?" Sora turned around to address the new, familiar voice and found himself looking at…

"Roxas?"

Roxas chuckled again. "Sorry, that's not me."

"Over here, Sora."

Sora turned to see his very own Nobody waving next to a raven haired girl he had never seen before but looked familiar who also waving, but shier.

"...Kairi? How did you dye your hair so fast?"

Kairi was playing with her keyblade, whacking the paopu fruit tree and wasn't paying attention. "What?"

Sora stared at the girl, the one who looked like his friend, but wasn't. "Who are you?"

She laughed. "Perhaps the better question would be what are you," She murmured and Roxas flashed her a sad smile before answering Sora, "Her name is Xion, and she is yet another keyblade wielder."

"Sora, Sora, Sora..." The Roxas twin placed his hand on Sora's shoulder, causing him to jump. He laughed, took his hand from the shoulder and placed it in front of Sora's face.

"Name's Ventus, but, please, call me Ven."

"... Ven then." Sora was weary of the Roxas clone, seeing the true Roxas on the left with the one known as Xion and this Ven character with a tall, muscular brown haired figure next to a slender blue haired woman.

"I can see that I confuse you, but I'm - or should I say we," He looked at his companions. "Are here to correct your mistake and educate you in the ways of the blade shaped as a key and able to unlock various objects."

"Uh... huh..." Sora stared at him before turning back to his nobody, who was having a quiet conversation with Xion. "You guys seeing this?" Sora called to his friends, only to find Kairi gone in the distance hitting trees and Riku still reading.

"Hmm?" Riku hummed, faced buried in book.

"Riku, for the love of the King, look up!"

The desperation in Sora's voice caused him to look up, and he dropped his book and had his mouth agape at the sight of Roxas and Xion.

"... Oh shit."

Ven called, "No cursing, we belong to Disney!"

Riku turned to Ven, and positively fainted on impact. There was an awkward silence as they all waited for Riku to recover, but didn't as fast as they would have liked.

"Uh..." Roxas scratched his head and whispered in Xion's ear, who began to shake her head furiously. "No, Roxas!"

She was ignored as Roxas dashed up to Riku, keyblade in hand, screaming, "REVENGE!" He reached Riku, flung his weapon at his head, grabbed him, and tossed him into the ocean.

Cue more awkward silence. The only audible sound was the sound of Roxas breathing heavily before cheering, "Fuck yeah! Take that Riku, you inconsiderable bastard!"

Xion facepalmed herself as Roxas did a little dance before returning to her side as if nothing happened.

"... Anyway... I want to correct you about your belief about there being only - five, you said? - keybearers." Ven continued, staring at Roxas before looking and addressing Sora. He scratched his head. "Should we, I dunno, help your friend?"

Sora shrugged. "It's fine, Riku deserved it for what he did to Roxas. Actually, even I don't think that was enough… Just give me a minute here to actually care, seeing as the author is still slightly upset at all the abuse Roxas has gone through." He shrugged.

"O...kay then," Ven said hesitantly, still looking at the ocean. He shook his head before turning back to Sora, all thoughts cast aside about Riku. "You said that the only key wielders are your friends Riku and Kairi, King Mickey, Roxas over there, and yourself, correct?" The other man asked. Sora nodded.

"And Xion!" Roxas called out, he and the meek girl making their way towards the conversationalists.

Ven nodded. "Yes, uh, indeed. Terra?" He turned to the brown haired individual, who was just nodding his head and staring at the ocean before realizing that he was being spoken to. "What?"

"Manners, Terra! Don't daze off when someone's trying to teach here," The woman winked at Ven, who blushed, and she walked forward. "Sorry about him, let me formally introduce ourselves.

"That one over there is Terra." She gestured to Terra, who smiled. "You know Ven." Ven waved at his name. She lastly pointed to herself. "And my name is Aqua."

That face, that voice, her politeness…

"Have we possibly... met before?" Sora asked offhandedly.

Aqua's smile faltered for a second and she opened her mouth, but was beaten to telling the truth by Sora. "No, that's not possible, that was over ten years ago..." He mused.

Aqua flashed a sad smile and let Ven take the reins once again.

"So anyway... we also..." Three flashes of light appeared from their hands. "Wield the chosen blade."

"Don't forget us!" Roxas said, standing within the circle of blades with Xion. "We wield them too!" More flashes of light and Sora could see their keyblade as well. He decided to summon his. He had the Kingdom Key. Riku, if he were here, would have the Road to Dawn. And he didn't know the name of Kairi's, but he dubbed it the Flower Power Girly Keyblade. He decided to compare the others.

Kingdom Key for Xion and Oathkeeper and Oblivion dual-wield by Roxas. He turned to the other keyblade bearers, examining their blades. He didn't recognize them but noted that Ven held his blade rather oddly. He wondered what his fighting style would be like.

"Oooh. Now that's an interesting way to hold it." Sora pointed at the blade. "How do you use it?"

"Like this." Ven slashed his weapon across to demonstrate his skill.

"Oooh!" Sora was fascinated. "Okay, respect for you." He looked over to the others. "Still… why does everybody have a keyblade? It pisses me off."

"Sora, Sora, Sora," Roxas chided, wagging his finger, "You need to accept it and move on." The Nobody gave it some thought. "That or check into a mental hospital for your hero complex."

"Yeah, just wait until you learn about the War," said Aqua, with Terra and Ven nodding in agreement. "There were a countless number of wielders there!"

"Yes," came a new voice. "All fighting for that one, unobtainable weapon. Unless..."

"Eep!" Ven dashed behind Terra and Aqua, who held their weapons protectively.

"What do you want, Vanitas?" The blond keybearer questioned, causing the voice to reveal himself. Sora grew wide-eyed at the newcomer.

"Merge with me, Ventus! Together we can take over the worlds!" The dark version of Sora cackled evilly, before his eye caught the brunet. He stared at his light counterpart before facepalming himself.

"Oh, hell no. What the fuck?" He went up to Sora, who was frozen in his place. Vanitas poked him in the face. "How many times have I told him, 'No cloning'? I mean it's bad enough that I'm practically an evil clone as it is." He caught the eyes of a fascinated Roxas next to a shaking Xion.

"Ah hah! There you are!" He made a grab for the blond Nobody, who was too shocked to react and found himself in Vanitas' grip. "Gotcha!" The darkness of Ven's heart smirked at his prize.

"Oh shit!" Ven yelled, jumping out behind his friends. "Release him right now, Vanitas!"

Vanitas took a good look at Roxas, looking to Ven, before switching back to Roxas again. "Oh, don't tell me he cloned you too?" He studied surprised Roxas before eyeing Sora, who was still frozen in shock. "Well, yours is much better than mine. Damn you, Master Xehanort. You and your obsession with cloning." He studied Roxas for any faults before smiling. He shrugged, "Eh, you'll do," as he summoned a swirling, ominous vortex of doom and dragged the struggling Nobody. "Let's go!" he proclaimed.

"Yoooo, Ven!" exclaimed Roxas, giving the blond a dubious look, "What the actual fuck, man?"

Ven shrugged. "I have no idea. But rather you than me."

"Help me, you inconsiderable idiots!" He screamed at the other keybearers, who also shrugged. Xion traveled to fish the floating body of Riku out of the water.

"I warned you. Bad karma," she said as the raven Nobody dragged Riku's body back to shore. She took a good look at him before placing her lips on the passed out silver-haired keybearer.

"Xion, you fucking bitch!" The blond Nobody yelled, still struggling. "That is the last fucking time I try to fucking save people! They're all just bastards who only look out for themselves!" He fumed.

"Oh, I think Disney's gonna sue somebody," Ven sighed. "All these potty mouths."

"Oh, don't worry, Roxas. We're gonna have a lot of fun." He licked his lips with the Nobody's eyes open in terror. He licked Roxas' cheek before moving to his lips, upwards traveling the nose to the sapphire eye. Roxas shuddered and fainted in his arms, causing Vanitas to carry him bridal style.

Vanitas kissed him on the forehead as he tightened his grip on the blond Nobody. "Mwuahahaha!" He continued to cackle as the pair was dragged off into the darkness and disappearing into a place where only the author knows. (Who, in actuality, doesn't know where the hell they went.)

They could only watch in silence with the sounds of the tide filling the silence between them.

"Sora," called Ven as the sun started to set, "Can I kiss you?"

"Huh?" Sora was wide-eyed. "What? No!"

Ven pouted. "Awe, you're no fun. Vani got Roxas."

"Dude! Not helping!" He looked over to the other keybearers, with only Terra and Aqua paying attention as Xion was still with Riku and Kairi currently trying to stab a starfish. The only people paying attention just shrugged and walked away, walking into the ocean before disintegrating into light.

"Perhaps you should just wake up already then." Ven winked as he approached the brunet seductively. With everyone, but really no one, watching, the blond caressed his fingers along the brunet's cheek and chin before moving close to kiss him on the lips.

Sora blanked out for a second before he laughed into the kiss, accepting everything that had just occurred as Ven deepened the kiss and Sora closed his eyes.

"Ah hahahaha..." Sora laughed with a dead voice as he rocked himself in his straitjacket, smiling widely.

"He's gone mad," said Edogawa Conan, diminutive detective. "It must have been the shock from having accidentally murder his two best friends while playing 'Hero'."

The detective took a good look at the spiky haired brunet laughing to himself in the room before turning back to his companion. "He created a world where instead he saves them and travels on countless worlds - for some reason Disney related - and can't cope with it.

"He's breaking down."

"Well," commented Kaitou Kid, or Kuroba Kaito, "He must have been traumatized from accidentally stabbing them both through the heart."

"Yeah," Conan looked at the mental patient with a sad look in his eye. "Even if it was an accident, murder is still murder. It's not like he's from a video game where the protagonist has countless lives with a reset button. There's no reset button on life."

"Nope." Kaito watched the brunet continue to laugh. Losing his nerves, he reached his hand out for Conan's. He sighed as they interlocked fingers. "I… I don't think I can ever do what you do. Cope with murder and death on practically a daily basis. Not with my sanity intact."

Conan just shrugged in response before leaving Hikaru Sora, exiting away from the mental hospital, with his magician in tow. "Thanks for helping me keep my sanity intact," the detective whispered, nuzzling his face in Kaito's hand. "If it weren't for you, I don't think I would have either."


	3. Water Droplets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If two share the same umbrella on a rainy day, what do you think happens under the cover of the rain? :AkuRoku Day 2012:

A drop of rain fell down from the sky upon the concrete asphalt of the earth. Roxas raised his hand to the sky, feeling the cold water hit his hand. "And the weatherman said there wasn't going to be rain today..."

He crouched lower to the ground, securing all of his belongings to his person before making a mad dash to the school grounds, not stopping until he was inside. The blond turned back to see the rain start to get heavy. "Whew, that was close." Roxas looked at himself to see that he was able avoid getting drenched in water, but was still a little wet from the light drizzle before he was able to get inside. He shook off any excess water from his person and wiped his feet to avoid getting the hallways wet. Making sure that he was completely water-free, Roxas began to walk to his locker.

The blond sighed, really grateful that he left home early today, even if he was rushing. "At least I brought an umbrella!" he exclaimed triumphantly, reaching out for it from its side pocket from his backpack.

But before he could wield it like a sword, someone grabbed his hand. "Hey, Rox!" Roxas turned to find himself face to face with bright blue eyes almost similar to his own.

"Hey, Sora. What's up?" the blond waved and released himself with his free hand.

The brunet shook his head, causing for the soaked spikes to splatter all over the place. Roxas held up his hands to protect himself. "Nothing much, just soaking wet."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "I can see that. And you want to add me to that number?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Sora grinned as he deemed Roxas and himself on equal footing thanks to the rain. "But back to your question." He thought about it for a second before taking a breath to exclaim in one breath,

"Outside? Clouds and rain. Boring stuff. In school, however, lots and lots of stuff! Just look at everything! The lights, the ceiling, the roof, the floor from the next floor, the curtains, the TV hanging from the wall…I could go on, but I won't. I guess the real important issue is, however, the rain."

Roxas blinked, trying to absorb what Sora just said. "The rain you said?"

The brunet nodded. "Yep, the rain. As you know, seniors get out early. And as I'm sure you know, I am a senior."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "I know that. I'm in one of your classes." Even if he wasn't a senior, Roxas was smart enough to enter the advanced English class with many seniors if he himself was a junior.

Sora shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm one of those slackers that didn't take an extra class so I'm just one of the many who get out at noon."

Roxas wasn't stupid; he could see where this was going. "So you want to borrow my umbrella and just hope that by the time I have to go home, it will stop raining?"

Sora grinned. "Aww, look at you! So smart!"

The blond couldn't help but roll his eyes again, and caught the clock to say that he had about six minutes to pack and grab his books for the day. "What makes you think I'll give it to you? I live farther away than you!"

"You live down the block from me."

"It's still a longer walk!"

"You know..." Sora looked around, saw no one, then pulled the blond to whisper, "there's a myth about umbrellas."

What a change in subject. "Huh?"

In a no-nonsense voice, Sora whispered, "If two people are under the same umbrella, that means they'll become lovers."

Roxas scoffed. "What kind of legend is that?" Did Sora want his umbrella that much?

The brunet raised an eyebrow, as if he was all-knowing. "You mean you didn't know?"

"No…?"

"Hey! While I use this," Sora snatches the umbrella from Roxas' bag. "why don't you try to share Axel's umbrella?"

"What?" Damn it, was Sora still trying to push them together? Why did he ever tell the brunet about his crush? Blushing, Roxas tried to get back his umbrella with little success. "Give it back!"

"Never!" And Sora dashed off to the other direction. Which was kinda stupid because he and Roxas were in the same class and their classroom in the opposite direction.

"Great. Just got my umbrella stolen." Roxas took a glance out the window and watched Mother Nature's fury. "And in this weather…it's probably not the greatest thing to happen." He sighed as she started packing for the rest of the day.

"Let's just hope it stops raining soon."

Roxas takes another glance at the window for what was the seventh time today. He sighed. "At least the rain had lightened a bit."

The blond gets up from his seat and slowly makes his way to his locker, muttering to himself, "Wuah, Sora didn't hope enough. It's still raining, and without an umbrella I'll get sick." Curse the ranging temperatures! He arrived and began to pack slowly, sighing. "What am I going to go? I can't go home soaking wet…"

"I was told that you wanted to see me?"

Roxas turned around to find himself face to face with Axel, who was already packed and was waiting for him.

"O-oh…Axel! W-who said that?" He turned from him to hide his blushing cheeks. Damn it, Sora!

"Your friend. He told me this morning. He said – and I quote – 'Meet up with Roxas after school; he wants to talk to you. It is of vital importance.' Sora?"

Roxas nodded as he closed his locker and placed his bag on his left shoulder. "He tends to over-exaggerate..."

"Yeah…" Axel scratched his head as he looked to avoid awkward eye contact. "So, what's up?"

Roxas began to shake his hands and head. "I don't know what Sora was talking about!" He got a good look at him. "You're a fast packer, aren't you?"

Axel shrugged. "I finished at noon today."

"Noon…" Roxas widened his eyes. "But it's already 3:45!"

Axel shrugged. "Yeah, I waited for you."

Roxas bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

Axel shook his head. "It's fine." He took a glance out the window. "Still raining, huh?"

Roxas continued to look down. "Yeah…and Sora stole my umbrella." Curse that brunet.

Axel smiled for a brief second before turning to the blond. "He did? I'm sorry to hear that."

"You and me both," Roxas said forlornly, looking away to not look into those amazing green eyes of his senior.

"How are you going to get home, then? Don't you walk home? You can't go home soaking wet, now can you?"

Onslaught of questions! Roxas shook his head. "I don't know…"

Axel took out an umbrella from his backpack, bowing slightly. "Would you mind if I walk you home?"

Roxas could feel himself blush. "W-walk me home? Are you sure?"

The redhead shrugged. "Why not? Besides, if you'll get wet, you'll get sick."

Roxas couldn't deny that logic. "Oh, thank you!"

They walked up to the front doors, and while Roxas held the door open, Axel walked outside and opened his umbrella, waiting to Roxas to join him underneath it. After he was safely under the umbrella and protected from the rain, they started their ten minute walk to Roxas' house.

"Thank you so much for doing this," Roxas said, looking down at his feet while walking.

Axel looked down and scratched his head. "No problem." A few moments of awkwardness ensued before the redhead tried for some conversation. "So…how are you?"

Roxas answered quickly, "Fine, fine. You?"

"Same as well."

Gosh, his heart was beating a mile a minute! Why did Sora make him have to go through this torture? There was more awkward silence for three minutes – leaving about five minutes left in their journey – before Axel spoke again. "Do you know about the rumors about umbrellas?"

Roxas nodded. "Yes, Sora told me about them this morning. If two people are under an umbrella, it's rumored that they'll…"

Axel grinned. "They'll what?"

The blond began to blush. "They'll be lovers."

"What do you think of it?" Axel clung onto his every word.

Roxas just shrugged. "I think that it's ridiculous. What kind of myth is that?"

"...I don't know, but aren't we under a single umbrella right now?"

Roxas was silent. One minute left. "That we are."

They finally arrived at Roxas' home, but he made no movements to open his front door. He paused, before going to his bag to look for his keys. Axel, noticing this moment to be a fine opportunity, asked, "What would you say if we take that myth and make it a reality?"

And before Roxas could reply, he kissed him on his soft, rosy lips.

They were lip-locked for a few seconds and Axel broke it off just before the door opened. "Hey, Roxas, I was wondering where you were - Who's this?" Roxas didn't look up but from the sound of the voice it sounded like his sister Naminé.

Roxas continued to look down so that his sister and Axel wouldn't see him blushing. "No one, Nami. Just a classmate."

Naminé grinned. "Would you like to invite him in? It's not raining as hard as it was this morning, but it's still raining nonetheless."

Axel shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, but I have to start heading home. It was fun walking with you, Roxas. We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah…" the blond trailed off-handedly before Axel headed out into the rain again, watching from the corner of his eye the two whisper about something and Roxas blushing madly.

While Roxas was ushered inside into his home, Axel started his own route home, taking out his cell phone. He played with it for a few seconds before finally finding the number he wanted and called it.

"Yeah, Sora? Thanks for the tip. And for telling him about the 'myth'. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you ASAP. But, thanks. For everything."

He hung up the phone with a smile on his face, putting away the umbrella as the rain began to fade into the bright sun.


	4. For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas is given a love letter. Three guesses from whom and the first two don't count. :AkuRoku Day 2012:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should be about 813 words. :3

It all started with the letter he found in his locker.

"Eh?" Roxas blinked as he removed the envelope, staring at is as if he does not understand what was currently in his hands.

"Roxas!" Hayner threw her arm over the blond's shoulder as he took the envelope. "Whatcha got here?"

"Oh, I know what this is!" Olette said, and not knowing what else to do just handed it to her. She inspected it to confirm her suspicions. "Congratulations, Roxas! Looks like you received a love letter."

"Love letter?"

"Wow, this is usually done a lot in Japan. It's a method of confession," Pence explained.

"You would know," Hayner said, laughing. "It's all that anime you watch."

"Hey, you ask to borrow all my JRPGs!"

"Gahahap!" Hayner covered Pence's mouth. "I play it for the stories!"

"Forget that!" Olette interrupted to get to the main focus at hand as she grabbed Roxas'. "Someone has a crush on you!"

Roxas blushed. "A crush? On me?" That was a surprise. Roxas never would've thought he was lovable material. As a love interest, he means. He…was boring.

"Why wouldn't they? You're cute, sweet, serious; you're adorable, Roxas!" Olette complemented, making Roxas blush some more.

"Did you send the letter, Olette?" the other boys accused.

Olette held her hands up in defense. "No! I love Roxas as a friend and only a friend! Nothing more!"

Hayner snatched the letter from her hands. "I say we figure out who sent it."

Hayner didn't hold it for long, as soon Pence snatched it out of his hands. "It was Naminé," Pence declared, studying the handwriting on the cover. "This is her art style."

"Excuse me," Roxas spoke up. "May I see it please?"

"Sure could, it's yours!" Olette took it right back from Pence and handed it back to the blond. "No one opened it right?" Everyone shook their head, Roxas included. He took it from her and read it.

"What's it say?" Hayner made a grab for it but Olette made sure that he couldn't reach it by holding out her arm to block his path.

She smiled. "Only share if you want to, Roxas."

"But it'll satisfy our curiosity if you tell us," Pence added off-handedly, trying to subtly convince Roxas to share.

Roxas knew he was going to let his friends know what the letter contained, but didn't know how to describe it. "It's…a drawing of me." Roxas flipped the paper and showed them an accurate, detailed, cute artist rendition of Roxas on lined-notebook paper. It was of him sitting down on by the beach, turning with his face showing and smiling as if he was posing for the artist.

But Roxas did not pose for anyone, nor did he go to the beach. So it was rather impressive. He flipped it back to study it, and caught a very faint signature of an A on one of the charms that Roxas was wearing on a bracelet.

"See? Told you it was Naminé," he heard Pence declare, and looked up to see him nodding. Everyone else was nodding in agreement, positive that it was the quiet blonde girl who was Roxas' secret admirer.

"Well, I suppose you can approach her tomorrow," Olette said, happy for her friend. "Ask her out on a date if you'd like."

"…Maybe," Roxas said quietly, wracking his brain if there were any artists that he knew. Naminé was a given, but why would she sign it with an A? Roxas wore a checkered wristband, not a silver bracelet. And he knew that Naminé would not give him a letter, because he had just asked Xion to let her know that she did not feel the same way as she did only last week. In fact, she has been avoiding him this whole time.

Whoever it was, he felt bad because he already had a crush on someone, and even more so if it was a girl because unfortunately for them he did not swing that way.

But while the initial fit, Roxas has seen Axel's handwriting and knew that he was no artist from that alone. Besides, he didn't even know if was gay.

So he shook his head, smiling softly as his friends carried him outside to go home, not bothering to look back.

But even if he did look back, he probably wouldn't have seen little red spikes and one piercing green eye hidden behind a corner, blushing and watching the whole spectacle with a small smile on his face.


	5. Can I Kiss You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because permission just made everything sweeter. :AkuRoku Day 2012:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This could have been so much better.

It was a petty jealousy, but Axel was starting to become jealous of all those sea-salt ice cream popsicles that Roxas always eats.

Because he just ate them without a second thought.

But when Axel wanted a taste, he always had the ice cream getting in the way. "Let me finish this first, Axel." "Wait, Axel, Xion's right there." "No, you may not take the ice cream from my mouth, Axel, do you want one?"

Axel just wanted some love. Was that too hard to ask?

When Axel was nearby, Roxas would always have to grab his stash of ice cream bars.

Why? Because he did not want to kiss him thank you very much.

Don't get him wrong, he really wanted to taste the hot cinnamon flavor Axel's mouth held; it always burned him up and melted the cold ice cream soup.

It's just…

_Roxas looked up from his 3DS and closed it shut when he heard footsteps enter his room. "Hello, Xion, what's up?"_

_She doesn't hesitate. "Roxas, doesn't it bother you when Axel just comes up and kisses you?"_

_"…" Roxas performed his impression of a cherry, which was pretty impressive. "I have no idea what you're talking about."_

_Xion rolled her eyes. "Come on, Roxas, I can see you two from the corner of my eyes. But doesn't it bother you?"_

_Roxas thought about it. When he thought about it, yeah, Axel practically just kidnapped his person and ravished him. He turned bright red at the thought._

_"Anyway," Xion grabbed the blender. "I just wanted to ask if you could return the blender when you're done making smoothies." And then she left before Roxas could retort._

They should have taken baby steps first.

So no more sex, no more cuddling, no more anything until Axel does it the proper way.

They were still friends, they still spent time together. They just weren't a couple anymore. Not until Axel asks.

"Roxas, was there something I said?"

Roxas looked up from his fourth bar, looking into the sad expression on Axel's face as they sat next to each other on the bench. The blond looked back down, swaying his feet. "No…" It was actually a lack thereof.

Axel was losing himself at the seams. "What did I do?"

"Nothing." And that was fact.

"Was there something i was supposed to do?"

Ah, now they were getting somewhere. Roxas paused in his sucking, about to remove his lips from the treat before he continued sucking again.

"That' s it, isn't it. I am supposed to do something." Axel grinned. Now he was getting somewhere. "What is it that I need to do?"

"Something… May I have a hint?"

"Hmm..." Roxas thought about it. "You know, all you have to do is ask."

Ask...ask! Axel gets it now! "Can we have sex?"

Roxas facepalmed himself. "Start slow first."

"Fine... Roxas, would you do me the greatest honor of kissing me?"

Roxas smiled as he tossed away his popsicle stick in the nearby trashcan. "Sure."

But before he could lean in for a soft and gentle kiss – having not done so in twenty-four hours – Axel wrapped his arms around the blond and pulled him in for a deep kiss, getting a taste of the ice cream Roxas loved so much with his natural taste of vanilla as Roxas got that spicy cinnamon he had missed.

"Mhm," he murmured, each other getting the taste that the other's been craving for. The wait in between made everything much better, in Roxas' opinion, as if taking a drink of water after being dehydrated.

It was refreshing.

Roxas could feel Axel's hand traveling down below his waist so he had to break it off. "Axel, wait. I want to take my time with this."

Axel blinked, slowly retracting back. "Unlike the first time?"

"To be the opposite of the first time," Roxas answered, pouting. "I had no idea what was going on and got lost in the moment!"

Axel laughed. "You and me both." He pulled in Roxas for a side hug. "Love you, Rox."

Roxas smiled back, getting up and planting a quick peck on the redhead's cheek. "Love you too, Axe."


	6. VIP

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In commemoration for their tenth anniversary, Sora and the cast are invited to the House of Mouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too...lazy...to italicize.
> 
> Remember when Kingdom Hearts was just a simple game of a boy traveling with Donald and Goofy through Disney Worlds?

Sora shied behind Riku. "I dunno, Riku, look at all these people..."

Riku gently shoved him out from behind him. "Sora, don't worry. In this world, the relationships between everyone are stable. No one wants to hurt anyone, no one's going to cause a fight. Besides, the King absolutely insisted."

"But..."

Riku shook his head. "No buts. Come on, we're going to start running late."

"Right here on beautiful Down Main Street, an extraordinary event. For the first time ever, we would like to welcome Sora to the House of Mouse!"

Sora blinked at all the flashing lights before he was tugged towards the front entrance, Riku nowhere to be found. At the door, he finally found a friendly, approachable face.

"Goofy, is that you?"

The valet blinked. "Sora? I'm afraid you have me mistaken, I'm Goofy's son, Max."

"Oh, sorry about that - " Sora was flabbergasted. "Wait, Goofy has a SON?"

Max looked away. "Yeah…?" He coughed awkwardly. "Come on in, Sora. Welcome to the House of Mouse," he greeted as he opened the door for him.

Sora laughed awkwardly as he walked inside, still blinking from all the cameras as he found another welcoming face.

"Donald!"

"Sora?" The duck narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Eh?" He pointed to himself. "Me? I was told to come here!" He took out an invitation. "See?"

"Mickey..." Sora heard Donald mutter before smiling for him. He held out his hand. "Welcome, Sora, to the House of Mouse."

Sora took his hand and shook it, looking around. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen Riku, have you, Donald?"

Donald nodded. "They're inside, waiting for you. Now get going, there's a line of people behind you."

Sora turned to see the massive line before yelping and quickly moving towards the receptionist.

"Ah, finally! I get to finally meet you! I'm Daisy," the duck at the counter introduced herself.

"Sora, likewise!" he smiled at her.

"Let's see..." Daisy looked at a computer screen. "Follow the red carpet and you will be directed to your table. Enjoy your evening, Sora!"

"Thanks!" Sora waved her goodbye as he did as he was told, walking along the red carpet into the main room.

"Wow..." Sora was amazed at all the people, friends and enemies alike.

"Sora! Over here!" Sora turned to see Riku and Kairi waving at him. Sora quickly made his way towards his island friends.

"Where were you?" asked Kairi, slightly annoyed.

"Where was I, where were you guys?" Sora looked out and waved to the audience. "Look at all the people!"

"Kairi, I told you, Sora is specifically the VIP. He had to have a special introduction, remember?" Riku reminded her.

"Oh yeah," she said, sticking out her tongue. "My bad, Sora!" She scooted over to her left and pat the seat next to her, placing herself in the middle. "Sit next to me!"

Sora was about to do so when Riku got out, suddenly grabbed him, and placed him in between himself and Kairi. "Sit in the middle, Sora."

He smiled at his rival/best friend. "Sure, Riku!"

Kairi opened her mouth to argue, but was forced to keep her mouth shut as the lights started to dim.

"And now, put your hands together for the mouse who brought back the color red, Mickey Mouse!"

All of the tables started to clap, much to Sora's surprise, as the King dressed in a tux walked on stage.

He waved for them to stop. "Thanks, Mic. Thank you all for coming! We have a wonderful show planned for you tonight, thanks to our special guests!"

The light shown towards Sora's table, and he blushed as the audience applauded for them.

"My very special friends, Sora, Riku, and Kairi would be celebrating their tenth anniversary!"

"What is he talking about? We're not married," Sora whispered, widening his eyes. "At least not that I'm aware of."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Too complicated to explain, Sora. Just listen."

"In honor for their special day, we want to thank them for all that they've done for us."

The audience continued to clap, including the villains.

Sora just groaned at what was happening. "Nothing makes sense anymore."

"And we have a special performance for you all tonight and until the end of the show it would be a surprise for you all!"

More clapping.

"And now, let's go back to where it all began."

Mickey gestured to the screen where scenes of a four year old Sora and a five year old Riku were watching the stars at the beach.

They were lying down, looking up towards the sky, watching night sky.

Riku was the first to get up. "Wanna go back soon?"

Sora got up after him. "Yeah, let's go back."

The two picked themselves up from the sand and started to head back, when Riku turned towards Sora.

He looked concerned. "Sora? What's wrong?"

Sora gave him a confused look. "Eh?"

They stopped walking, Riku turning towards him. "That's..."

Sora blinked, and was surprised to find a tear running down his cheek. He raised a hand to catch it.

"I don't really know," he said, looking down. "Suddenly, my chest feels really tight…"

"Someone must be sad," Riku told him.

Sora looked up to his friend. "Someone?"

Riku looked towards the sky again. "Sora," he explained, "You're connected to everyone, in every world. Someone, somewhere, must be sad and is wanting your help."

Sora looked down again, turning towards Riku. "But I can't do anything for them..."

Riku crossed his arms, deep in thought. "Maybe you can't hear them in your heart."

"Hmm," Sora crossed his arms behind his head before dropping them and kicking his feet in the sand. "Riku, it's a difficult thing. I don't really understand… But I'll try!" He changed, sad look now gone in exchange for determination.

"Okay," Riku replied, and Sora looked towards the sky and closed his eyes, Riku doing the same.

"I… I remember that," Sora whispered, eyes wide at the memory. "How… how do they have that?" He placed his head on the table, whispers of a voice in his mind.

"Sora?" Riku and Kairi gave him concerning looks.

"And that would be the starting point for Sora to become a keyblade wielder," Mickey continued, having ending the clip. "And we'll come back to that after some music thanks to one of our special guests, Demyx on his Sitar!"

Demyx appeared on the stage, and began to play. It reminded the three teens of Muriel from Courage the Cowardly Dog.

"Aw garsh, Sora, aren't you having fun?"

Sora looked up from the table. "G-Goofy?"

Goofy smiled. "Eeyep, that's me!" He took out a notepad. "I'll be your server tonight, is there anything you'd like?"

"Why didn't you tell me you had a son?" Sora demanded, standing up.

Goofy sweatdropped. "Errr..."

"A son, Goofy?"

"What are your specials?" interrupted Kairi, looking over the menu.

"Well, for tonight we have a sea-salt ice cream sundae and a papou fruit smoothie, today only, just for you!" Goofy answered her, happy to change the topic.

"Let's get a papou smoothie!" Kairi said, handing back the menus.

"Entrée…?" Riku and Goofy asked, with Kairi waving it away. Goofy gave a look, but took the menus and walked away with the orders.

"Wait, I want a sea-salt ice cream sundae," Sora called, Goofy turning and writing down the order before tipping his green hat. "Got it!"

Sora put his head back down, making Riku and Kairi frown and concerned for their friend.

"Sora, you okay?"

Sora shook his head as Demyx wrapped up his song to a positive response and Mickey took the floor once more.

"Wow, Demyx, you sure to have talent!" Mickey complemented, clapping with the rest of the crowd. "And now we continue with our special presentation." He looked over to the screen, frowning when nothing flashed on.

He looked up to the Clip Room. "… It would seem that we have a gap for the ten years. Sorry about that folks. So let's fast forward a bit!"

He motioned to the screen again, where a blue chunk of the sky could be seen.

A brunet blinked awake, getting up and looking towards the ocean. He yawned, lowering himself back on soft sand.

To find himself face to face with large deep sea blue eyes belonging to a girl with short red hair.

"Woah!" He jolted. He turned towards her, getting up. The red head laughed. "Give me a break, Kairi."

She smiled. "Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."

"No! This huge, black thing swallowed me up!" Sora explained, "I couldn't breath, I couldn't -" Kairi bonked him on the head. "Ow!"

She kneeled to him. "Are you still dreaming?"

"It wasn't a dream!" he said, frowning. "Or was it? I don't know."

"Yeah, sure," Kairi said, walking towards the water.

"Say, Kairi," Sora sat on the sand. "What was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"

"I've told you before," she replied, looking to the sea. "I don't remember."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing," she confirmed.

"You ever wanna go back?" he asked.

She thought about it. "Hmm, well, I'm happy here."

"Really..." He sounded skeptical.

"But you know," she started, "I wouldn't mind going to go see it."

"I'd like to see it too," he replied, getting up slightly. "Along with any other worlds out there. I'd like to see them all!"

She turned to him. "So, what're we waiting for?"

"Hey," a new voice appeared. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?"

The two turned to the sound to see a boy with silver hair holding a log. "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." He shook his head before walking over towards them and tossing the log to Sora. He went up to Kairi. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"

She giggled. "So you noticed." She smiled. "Okay, so we'll finish it together!"

Riku took a seat next to Sora, getting comfortable. "I'll race you!" Kairi said, causing for the boys to give her skeptical looks.

"Huh?" Sora said.

"What, are you kidding?" Riku said.

She giggled. "Ready? Go!"

The boys looked at each other for only a second before getting up, dashing down the shore and leaving Kairi in the dust.

"And so they dreamed to go and started to build a raft to sail off to distant worlds, intending to visit Kairi's home world," Mickey narrated, cutting off the clip there.

"But when the world fell towards the darkness because of the Heartless, the three were separated from one another. But in reality they weren't all too far apart. Riku," a picture of the silveret appeared on screen, "Would always be with close with Kairi and Sora." Their picture appeared on the screen next to Riku for a group shot. "Kairi was actually with Sora throughout the whole journey, and Sora ventured to find his friends and unconsciously save other worlds from sharing a fate similar to his own."

Flashes of other worlds appeared on screen depicting a few seconds of Sora's timeless adventure across the various worlds.

"On this journey, he made countless friends, many of which include many of you," Mickey gestured to the many pictures of many of the audience members. "But as other journeys, it came with hardships."

A quick picture of Captain Hook's ship, and even though it wasn't there, Sora could play back the memory.

They crashed into a pirate ship, and Donald and Goofy were nowhere to be found as Sora searched the deck for them.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora."

Sora gasped, turning towards the voice to find the one he's been searching for.

"Good to see you again," Riku greeted, above him on a higher level of the deck.

"W-Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora asked, slight fear in his voice.

Riku narrowed his eyebrows, frowning. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends?" He looked at Sora oddly, as if he was betrayed. "Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking..." He moved. "About her."

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, surprised. There was something off with her.

"That's right," Riku said, "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora made a mad dash towards them, when a hook got in his way.

"Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy," said the captain of the ship, Captain Hook.

Sora looked up, clenching his fists into the air. "Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?"

Riku answered coldly, "The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear."

Sora didn't agree with this. "You're stupid! Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart!"

Riku brushed aside his concerns. "Not a chance. My heart's too strong."

"Riku..."

Sora squeezed his eyes. He didn't want to remember more of the betrayal.

"But in the end they were able to conquer the darkness and bring light towards salvation. And for that we thank them."

"What about Roxas?" Sora muttered, head wrapped under his arms. "What about Axel? What about..."

"Here ya go, a papou smoothie and one sea-salt ice cream sundae," Goofy said as he placed the items on the table.

"Thanks!" Kairi thanked she took a sip from her beverage. "Sora, want some?"

Sora shook his head, playing with his ice cream. Why did he even order this? "No thanks."

Kairi frowned. "You sure?"

"Yeah..." This was more depressing than he thought it would be.

"It may seem like that now, but in the end it will be better," Riku commented, making Sora raise his head.

"Riku..."

"After saving the noble Princess Kairi, Sora fought against Ansem and was able to defeat the darkness," Mickey continued, "However, like two sides of a coin, one needs the darkness to balance with the light. And so Riku and I stayed in the Realm of Darkness to seal the Door to Kingdom Hearts."

A gasp rang throughout the audience at this announcement, before a flash of a white castle.

"Under request, this part shall be skipped," a brief image of a blond Kairi look-alike, whom was missed as Kairi tried to offer Riku some of her drink, as well as a raven-haired Kairi look-alike, flashed on the screen.

"Now -"

"Hey, we don't need the whole Nobody part, do we?"

Sora turned to the voice, seeing his blond Nobody alongside Axel, leaning on their booth. He jumped when he took the ice cream and started eating it. The blond pointed to his brunet counterpart.

"Besides, all these flashbacks are giving Sora a headache. Let's just perform and we can go back and play the game."

Mickey shrugged, but gave them the floor. "Give it up for Roxas."

More applause as Roxas adjusted the headset mic and began to sing a remix of Hikari, moving away from the Destiny Island booth and towards the stage.

"Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" Sora asked, antagonized.

He listened to Roxas' voice as he finished his song. "Oh, that was nice. How come I can't sing like you, Roxas?"

"Because you see dead people," he replied, finishing up another sundae.

Sora nodded in agreement before the words sunk in. "Wait, WHAT?"

Axel pat him on the back. "Lighten up, Sora. You're ten years old now!"

Sora pouted at Nobody's best friend. "I'm fifteen!"

"Axel, stop teasing him, it's his special day!" Roxas placed his arm over the red head before glaring at Riku. "Well, his and Riku." He looked over Kairi. "Oh, and Kairi too, I suppose. Didn't see much of her though so…"

"We have come to crash the party," a new voice erupted from the clip room, making everyone turn to the room.

"Horace? What's going on?" Minnie's voice cried from backstage into a walkie-talkie, somehow audible through the whole club.

"Muwahahaha," an evil voice that sounded familiar cackled, everyone turning to the owner of the said familiar voice, who blinked.

"That's not me!" Sora cried, looking up to the dark clip room to see a dim silhouette of himself playing with the clips.

"I got it!" another familiar voice called, and everyone turned to the other owner of the familiar voice, who shook his head.

"That wasn't me either," Roxas replied, pointing to the clip room.

The light turned on, and a Roxas familiar and an evil version of Sora were waving.

"Vanitas," the Roxas cloned reprehended.

"Ventus," Vanitas replied, not caring.

Ven rolled his eyes, and raised Vanitas' hand, where there was a blue star crystal twinkling.

"We have Tinkerbell!" Vanitas exclaimed, wagging the star.

Ven rolled his eyes again, removed the star from his other's hand, and tossed it to Mickey through the shattered window. "Here's your Star Shard, Mickey! Thanks for letting us use it!" He smiled. "Albeit late."

"Very late," Vanitas added.

"Not helping!" Ven yelled, before waving to the rest of the audience.

"No problem, Ven, glad you could make it!" Mickey pocketed the star, waving before checking the time and turning to the Disney audience. "Up, that's all the time we've got! Thanks for coming everybody!"

"Wait!" Xehanort raised a hand from behind the curtains. "What about my act?"

Mickey shook his head before waving his hand. "That's all the time we have, bye!"

Roxas waved away before Axel took his hand and both fell into the pool of darkness that appeared underneath them on the floor.

Riku took hold of Sora's shoulders and pushed him out of the lounge, Kairi and the rest of them tagging along.

"A-ah, wait, Riku! I want to say goodbye properly!"

"You'll see them later. Come on, let's go take that Exam."


	7. Think With Portals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Professor Xemnas gets various reports of sickness for missing physics class, he knows that the students are just playing hooky to play the new game Portal 2. So he cancels class. Axel isn't an exception. Roxas is. And so they play. With portals.

Axel should have known better.

He should have known that he would realize how awesome the game was and become obsessed.

He should have known that in the end, when meeting the core, that was when he lost it.

But, really, he couldn't blame him.

And now, staring into the cold, blackness of space all around him, he wondered what was going to happen to them in the long run.

Axel closed his eyes to remember how, only seventy-two hours ago, he was still at his house, on Earth, and showed Roxas something that he would regret in the long run.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, Roxas! Play with me!" Axel shouted, his eyes not leaving the TV screen.

Roxas looked up from his textbook. "Hmm?"

"Come and play with me! There's a co-op mode that I need your help in. You can be Orange! Or P-body, whatever the hell he… it?... is called." Axel threw him a controller, and motioned for him to sit next to him on the floor, only four feet from the screen.

"What, a video game?" He sighed as he continued to read his book. "You should really be studying instead of playing games. And it's 'it', as it is a robot and has no gender."

"Hey! This game is legit! It has sentimental value to science!"

"Legit, Axel? Really?"

"Just shut up and play with me. Besides, even Professor Xemnas knows how epic this game is. It teaches physics! In fact, I learned more about the subject from this game than from all of his classes."

"Oh?" Roxas shut his book and placed it on the table. "Is this the game that people called in sick for to stay home and play and just resulted in the professor just canceling class?"

"He did that for you too?"

"Did you not wonder why I was here and not at class?"

"I didn't even notice you were here."

"And you called my name why?"

Axel shrugged. "I just wanted someone to play with."

"How about the people online?"

"They don't want to play with me. Either they're too busy playing first player mode, or they think I'll kill them or something."

"Oh? Kill you? Now, that would be fun and worth having no class for." Roxas took the controller from the couch and got up. "Move over."

Axel moved aside, tossing the empty pizza box across the room to make room for himself and Roxas. "Alright, we gonna start this together. When I say 'Three', press Start on the controller so that we press it at the same time."

Roxas took a seat on the floor and asked, "Why do we have to do that?"

Axel shrugged. "That's what the screen says. Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"No reason for the sarcasm. You are about to play one of the greatest games of the year. Decade. All time!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it already."

"And you totally ignore what I say. Ah, well, you'll see. Ready?"

Seeing Roxas open his mouth, he quickly said, "Don't answer that. One. Two. Three!"

o-o-o-o-o-o

After about an hour and a half of game play, Axel put down his controller, shock on his face.

"Yay! We did it!" Roxas exclaimed, jumping around, watching the screen as the tanks with the humans were scanned, GLaDOS commenting on some of their attributes. "We beat the game and helped GLaDOS find the human test subjects! For saving! Or was that her sarcasm? Anywho, yay for us! And she liked me best! She hated you, Axel!" He stuck out his tongue at him.

Axel just stared at him, then back at the credits on the computer monitor on the screen. "Roxas… that was too fast. The game just came out today. There should have been at least four hours worth of co-op game play on here."

"What? No way! Come on, Axel, let's play!"

"But we already beat the game…" Axel said.

"What? It's over? No way…" Roxas was disappointed.

Axel thought for a second. "The game is called Portal 2. Two. As in the second game of the series. How about you play the first one first? And when I'm sick of first player mode, you can play this one. Didn't you download it onto your laptop when I first got the game?"

Roxas noticed the icon this morning, and was thinking about deleting it that night. Screw those plans. "I have it, but I never realized how awesome it was! Okay! Hopefully it'll be longer than the co-op version. Those puzzles were ingenious!" Roxas stood up, grabbed his laptop, and dashed to his room.

Axel watched him storm up the stairs before facing back to the TV. "And now to continue the story!"

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Aurgh, I can't do this! I'm going to just look up how to beat it tomorrow. Stupid classes. He should just give us a few days off instead of one." Axel shut off the system and got ready to get to bed. He quickly brushed his teeth, changed into his red-flame jammies, and tucked himself into bed, taking a quick glance at the clock.

It was already four in the morning.

"Make that look it up today. Hmm… Haven't seen Roxas all day. Did he even eat dinner?" Axel said as he drifted off to Dream Land to have awesome adventures with Kirby, that pink balloon like creature.

Not noticing the strange noises that came from Roxas' room and the abnormal light from the cracks.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"King Dedede, I'm going to smack you with your own mallet." Axel said as he rose from the depths of sleep. "Huh? Why didn't Roxas wake me?" He took a glance at the clock.

9:37 AM

His classes started seven minutes ago.

"Aw shit."

Axel jumped out of bed, changing his boxers for jeans and switching his red shirt for an even darker red shirt. He ran out the bedroom door, grabbing his book bag, dashed to the kitchen, grabbed a piece of untoasted toast - Roxas like to called it 'bread', the crazy son of a bitch - and ate it in two bites, downing it with a glass of water. After a rather "heavy" breakfast, he opened the front door and ran out of his dorm room, not bothering to lock the door. Roxas had installed an auto-lock on the doorknob, so it locked the second it closed. He reached out into his pocket to take out a piece of gum to make up from the lack of time to brush his teeth.

In the end, he was fifteen minutes late for his classes.

Trying to open the door as fast and quietly as he could, Axel sneaked into his class. Quite successfully at that. He had a quick sigh of relief before taking a seat next to his other bitch - err, friend - Demyx.

Demyx was looking down in his notebook, writing song lyrics. Not looking up, he said, "Yo, man. You're fifteen minutes late."

"I can see that." He answered, scanning the room for his great roommate.

"We thought you weren't coming, since Roxas isn't here."

That stopped him. "He's not?"

Demyx stopped doodling and looked up to face Axel. "Nope. So we started class. Man, I can't help you with what notes you missed, but you already knew that. But Roxas can't help us, since he's not here."

"Shit…"

"So, Mr. Sinclair? You decided to join us. Great. Where is your brilliant roommate, Mr. Astoria?" Professor Xaldin asked, looking back from the blackboard to address him.

"Not quite sure, Professor." He muttered. Realizing that that wasn't an answer, he stood up and answered, "Err, I mean, he didn't feel too well today, so he said he'll stay at home today."

"Ah, well, at least you're here. He is the only one who can afford to miss this class. That goes for all of you. You are all barely passing as it is. Eh, Mr. Agua?"

Demyx looked up from hearing his name and took a stand. "Uh… yes, sir, Professor, sir."

"Not paying attention again, I see. What did I just say?"

"You were scolding Axel, complimented Roxas, then insulted the whole class."

"It was not an insult, but the truth."

"Alrighty then. Please, continue with your amazing lesson about how aerodynamics increases the bodily harm of a weapon when used correctly."

The Professor was speechless. "Uh… okay then." And he continued on with his lesson, which was successfully tuned out by his students.

Axel turned to Demyx, who has gone back to his notebook. "Dude, what the fuck?"

He looked up. "What?"

"You were paying attention."

Demyx stifled a laugh. "Awah, hell no. I was talking about projectile motion. I can't believe I was right."

Axel smirked. "Portal?"

"Portal."

He finally sat down in his seat. "Man, that game is amazing."

"I know right? Wanna play co-op?"

"Nah, man. Already beat it."

"What? No way! It just came out yesterday!" A pause. "That's totally becoming a lyric."

Axel nodded. "It rhymed. Anyway, yeah. I played it with Roxas yesterday and we beat it in an hour and a half."

"No. Fucking. Way."

"Way. When Roxas said he was a physics major, he wasn't kidding."

"Dude, Roxas is like the valedictorian."

"Not like, is." Axel spotted Roxas' seat, which was empty.

"I wonder where he is."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Roxas sneezed, causing him to stop what he was doing and grab a tissue. He took off his goggles to take a good look at his project. He flexed it on his arm and grinned.

"Perfect."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"I love how in college, the teachers don't care whether or not you're late to class." Axel said as he unlocked the door to his dorm room.

"That's 'cause college isn't mandatory." Demyx pointed out.

"Then explain to me why you need a college degree to actually get a job?" Axel asked.

"'Tis amazing, isn't it?"

Both guys froze and turned to the direction of the voice, which was at the stairs. "Roxas?"

He takes hold of his cap. "Hello."

"Where've you been, man? Classes are over for today."

"Yeah, I had to cover for you and tell everyone that you were sick."

"Oh, I was busy is all. Just testing something."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. You'll see. Anyways," Roxas jumped from the stairs and walked to Axel.

He had a longing look in his eye. "Can I?"

Axel was confused. "Huh?"

"Can I? Pretty please?"

"Dude, what did you do to him?" Demyx asked, backing into the door, ready to flee from this strange person that has taken their friend's form.

Axel takes a step back. "I don't know, man. I DON'T KNOW!"

Roxas sighed and picked up the game case from the floor. "I'm just asking if I can play Portal 2. I already beat the first one. It was amazing and I want to know what happens after GLaDOS sings her song."

"'Still Alive'?"

Roxas nodded.

Demyx peeked from the door. "Dude, it took me over a month to beat that game and Roxas did it overnight?"

Roxas nodded once more, a coy grin on his lips.

It went unnoticed as Axel scratched his head. "It took me two months."

Roxas smiled as he took a seat on the couch, controller in his hand. "It's all quite simple really. Simple physics."

"Dude… Let him play! I'm stuck. Knowing him, he'll probably beat it within a month if he's that good."

Axel sighed.

"Alright, you can play."

"Yay!" He turned on the system and while the game was starting up, ran up to Axel and Demyx and hugged them in a tight bear hug.

"Dude, I'm scared." Demyx whispered.

"Me too." Axel whispered back.

Their comments were left unnoticed as Roxas released them to get back on the floor to play the game that has cultivated his mind.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Dude, how long has Roxas been playing since I left?" Demyx's voice called from Axel's cell phone.

"You left right after he started to play. What, did you think that he would have stopped after you left? About five hours already."

"Oh?" He could hear Demyx grin. "Is he stuck on it?"

"No, he just keeps on replaying the game. He even replayed the co-op mode and beat it an additional three times. All by himself."

Demyx was speechless. "What the fuck."

"I know. I just got tired and couldn't watch him play anymore when he got up to me. Which was about seven minutes into the game."

"So you've been avoiding the living room since… I dunno… 3:30?"

"Pretty much."

"How are you still alive?"

Axel laughed dryly. "Very funny."

"Dude… Whatever. So, whatcha need?"

"Yeah. I was just about to order pizza until you called me."

"Ah, well I had a feeling. The usual?"

"Yeah."

A voice called out from the other room. "Combustible lemons!"

"…What was that?" There was a slight terror in his voice.

Axel shrugged. "I don't know, but it's the seventh time he's yelled that already. I'm not that far yet. I'm still trying to escape the facility with the help of Wheatley. Man that guy's a moron. Chapter 3, Chamber 15."

"Dude, I'm even past that. I'm up to Chamber 17."

"Spuh-aaaeeeeeccccccccccccceeeeeee." The voice said once again.

There was silence for a few minutes as Demyx whispered, "You messed him up big time, man. This is worse than the time you got him into Kingdom Hearts!"

Axel smacked himself. "Arugh, don't remind me. He was so emo for days. 'Ah, I don't exist.' 'Who am I?' So depressing."

"You think you would have left your video games to yourself after that episode."

"Dude, shut up. Where the hell is my pizza?"

"Will you be able to get it?"

"I'm fucking starving. I'll get it. I'll just ask him to pause the game."

"Alright. Well, I'm outside."

Axel hung up the phone without a proper ending and yelled, "Hey, Roxas! Pause the game! I need to answer the door!"

"'Kay!"

Axel hesitantly walked out of the kitchen and kept his gaze on Roxas, who was smiling and giggling like a mad child.

"… Are you okay?"

"Most people emerge from suspension terribly undernourished. I want to congratulate you on beating the odds and somehow managing to pack on a few pounds. "

"Quoting now?"

"Yep! Lemme guess, you ordered pizza for dinner?"

"Hey, if my family owns a chain restaurant and I'm able to get free food from it, I'll get the free food."

"Didcha get cake?"

"Depends."

"Black forest cake?"

"Damn, you're good. And no, no I didn't. But who's to say that Demyx didn't bring cake?"

"Cake!" Roxas stood up, shutting off the TV and gaming system, and opened the door.

"Where's my cake, Demyx? Huh? HUH?"

Demyx stood there, shaking in his shoes. "Uh… I don't have any. Sorry."

Roxas was ready to break down and cry. "Wuah…" He sniffed his nose and ran back into the room.

Axel couldn't take it anymore. "Demyx, go get some cake. Black forest cake. We'll be waiting for you, and the cake."

Demyx backed into the hall. "I'm on the clock. I can't."

Axel took a firm grip on his shoulder. "Like hell you're on the clock. Do what I say. I'll end this."

Demyx shrugged before walking away. "Wait a sec..." He halted in his tracks.

"I need money for cake."

Axel sighed. "Just tell them it's for Axel Sinclair, and they'll give it to you for free. Now hurry up! I'll get him to stop crying and calm him down."

Axel slammed the door, not waiting for a reply as he found Roxas on the couch, fiddling with his fingers.

"Roxas? I need to you calm down. It's just a game. A good game, but still, only a game."

"Axel…" Roxas said in a hesitant voice.

"Yes?"

"Would you do me a favor?"

He nodded.

"Would you kindly beat the game so that I can show you something?"

Axel was so confused. At least Demyx wasn't here to fuck shit up. "Huh?"

"Beat the game so I can show you something! Play all night. Play until you beat it. Never stop. This is really special and important."

"Will you calm down?"

Roxas nodded.

"Will you help me?"

"Of course!" Roxas beamed.

"Alright then." Axel picked the controller from the floor.

"Let's make some portals."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Demyx has been knocking on the door for about nine minutes already.

"So I, uh, got the cake." Silence.

"God damn it! Just let me in already so that we can eat cake!"

There was an unlocking of the door, and Demyx was surprised to see Roxas peek around the hall, to him, grab the cake, and close the door within three seconds.

"… What?" Demyx asked.

Roxas locked the chain on the door but opened the door. "Thanks for the cake, bitch."

"Roxas?"

"Just kidding." He grinned. "But seriously, no distractions. Axel's gonna miss the next couple of days for school. Probably. Depends on how good he is, really."

"What is he doing?"

"Nothing important. Just, leave us be, okay?"

"What are you going to do for food?"

Roxas winked. "I got it covered."

And without another word, closed the door and took a seat back on the couch, critiquing Axel's game play.

"Damn, Axel. We've already played for six hours and you're only up to Chapter 6?"

Axel turned from the TV to face him and handed him the controller. "Here, play the rest for me while I take a cake break. Why the hell did it take Demyx six hours to get cake?"

"Ehh…" There was a sound of the cake box opening, and Roxas put the box on the table before dashing back to the kitchen and returning back with knives, forks, and plates. He sliced the cake and took a slice.

"Nice cake." Axel commented. "Can I have some?"

"No. Not until you beat the game." Rejected!

"Roxas…"

"Come on! You just need to place the orange portal on the tippy-top." Roxas pointed to the top of the TV screen. Axel did as he was told. "Now place the blue one on the bottom… Go inside, then fall in it. Simple!"

"… Oh…"

"At this rate, it's gonna be a long night. No cake for you! Your cake is - "

"No way in hell are you gonna say, 'The cake is a lie.' Fuck it, Roxas. Here." He handed Roxas the controller. "Take over while I have some cake."

"Fine." Roxas stabbed his cake and put the rest of it in his mouth before taking it.

Axel got up from the floor and walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

He spent about a good five minutes in there, drinking milk and eating cake.

"Roxas, can I finish the milk?"

"I thought you wanted water."

"I changed my mind. Can't people do that?"

"'Course you can. Like how Cave Johnson decides to make the lemons combustible instead of making lemonade."

"… Say wha?"

"Aww, get in here! I'm up to Chapter 7 already!"

"But we just started Chapter 6!"

"You just suck at this game! Hurry up so you see the plot twist!"

"Aww, I missed the witty dialog."

"Your fault." Roxas tapped his head in thought. "You know what? You're just gonna sit there and watch me finish your game so that I can show you your surprise. And don't worry, I got some confetti, the real kind, just for the occasion!"

Axel was speechless. What was so amazing about this surprise?

"Okay, but if you're just pulling my long fall boot like GLaDOS you're dead."

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Finally…" Roxas muttered as Axel read the lyrics of 'Want You Gone' sung by GLaDOS was playing on the screen.

"Woah… I would not have known to shoot a portal on the moon. Thanks, Roxas!"

"Well of course you wouldn't know, you were in the kitchen when I played all of Chapter 6." Roxas replied.

"Yeah… The gels... and the moon… I totally knew what you just said."

Roxas sighed. "In the chapter, they introduced the gels, and Johnson said that the conversion gel was made of ground-up moon rocks. They are an excellent portal-conducting surface, although contributing to Cave's death due to being poisonous." Roxas started to giggle. "It's funny. According to Cave Johnson, by the time he found out about the moon rock's portal friendly nature, he was so far in debt, but he bought them anyway. We could not afford to buy 7 dollars worth of moon rocks, much less 70 million."

"Ah, well. When you need moon rocks, you need moon rocks." Axel answered.

"Shush!" Roxas shushed him. "Watch the screen!"

Axel turned from his roommate to watch Wheatley in space, along with Personality Core No. 1, whom Roxas and Axel dubbed the Space Core.

Both were in space orbiting the Moon, with the Space Core orbiting Wheatley. Space Core said, "So much space. Need to see it all."

Wheatley ignored it and started to talk out loud, mostly to itself than to its companion. "I wish I could take it all back. I honestly do. I honestly do wish I could take it all back. And not just 'cause I'm stranded in space."

"I'm in space." Space Core interrupted.

Wheatley looked at it as it floated away, answering, "I know you are, mate! Yep, we're both in space." "SPAAAAACE!" Space Core called.

"Ohhh, so that's what you were talking about earlier. Wait, so you beat the game a couple more times yesterday?" Axel asked.

"Shush!" Roxas didn't even look at him, eyes still on the screen, but finger in the air to silence him.

Axel sighed as his attention was brought back to the TV.

Wheatley continued with its speech. "Anyway, you know, if I was ever to see her again, do you know what I'd say?"

Space Core interrupted it again. "I'm in space."

Wheatley ignored it as it continued, "I'd say, 'I'm sorry.' Sincerely. I am sorry - I was bossy... and monstrous... And, I am genuinely sorry."

Space Core replied, "I'm in space."

Wheatley said, "The end."

"And you're done." Roxas said, shutting off the TV with the last image of Wheatley in space with Space Core.

Axel tossed away the cake box and took a seat next to Roxas on the couch. "Yes, we're done. It took seventeen hours with only two three minute breaks, but we're finally done."

"And now I can show you!" Roxas got up from his place from the couch and dashed upstairs to his room, leaving Axel very confused.

He decided to make a phone call to Demyx while waiting. He picked up on the first ring.

"Axel, is that you? Are you still alive with the person who looks like Roxas?"

Axel rubbed his eyes. "Yes, I'm alive. How's school been?"

"You're asking me that?" Demyx let out a laugh. "Dude, I have absolutely NO idea what the fuck's going on. All I know is that the professors think you and Roxas are sick, since he's been gone for two days and you're not here today. So, what's up?"

"I beat it."

Axel was pretty sure that Demyx dropped the phone.

Or someone taking the phone from him is understandable too.

"You are not allowed to be on your phone during class, Mr. Agua. Hmm, doodling in your notebook again I see. See me after class." Professor Xemnas placed the phone to his ear. "Who is this?"

"…" There was a silence. If Axel spoke, then it would be known that he wasn't really sick and that he was playing hooky. Well, playing hooky against his will. Roxas refused to let him go to class and commanded that he stay and finish the game.

Wait, when was it a bad thing to play hooky? Axel mentally smacked himself on the head. Roxas was starting to rub on him. So studious. Then again, maybe he was rubbing on Roxas too. He's the one who wanted to skip classes. Then again, he was on a scholarship while Axel paid tuition. Well, his parents did.

"Demyx, who is this?" Xemnas pulled away from the phone to look at the caller ID. "I Set My Friends On Fire?"

Demyx just wouldn't let that one incident go, now couldn't he? It was purely an accident. ACCIDENT!

Axel felt the phone slip from his grasp as Roxas took his phone and shut it.

"Impatient, aren't we?" Roxas said, hiding something behind his back.

"Whatcha got there?" Axel was curious. This obviously had something to do with Portal. Why else would he have to beat the game before Roxas could show him?

Roxas was silent but revealed what was behind his back.

"No. Fucking. Way."

There, in Roxas' arms, was an Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube.

"It's perfect." It looked exactly like it did in the game, the square-ness with hearts on it instead of the Aperture logo.

"Yep. I made it myself. But that's not what's so impressive." Roxas took a peek outside to see the sun high in the sky. "But I'm not going to show you yet."

"What?" Axel was starting to get annoyed. "Why do we need to wait? It's already been at least seventeen hours."

"We need to do this at night."

"Night?"

"Night."

Axel pouted. "Fine. Be that way. I'm gonna get cake. Want any?"

"Cake!"

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Alright, it's night." Axel said as he looked out to the sky to see the bright moon over his head.

"Ha! Rhyming! Too bad Demyx isn't here." Roxas said, holding the companion cube close to his person.

"Yeah. We should have invited him." Axel said, looking around and noticing how white the room was.

Roxas shook his head. "No, we couldn't. I only have two helmets."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Helmets?"

Roxas smiled before he put the companion cube in front of his face. "Lookie at what I made!"

He opened the cube to take out a familiar white gun and placed it on his arm.

Axel's mouth was dry. "Is that…"

"Yep." Roxas raised his arm in the air, letting Axel confirm his suspicions. "It's the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device."

"Woah… can I see it?" Axel started to get closer to Roxas but he backed away.

Roxas shook his head. "Nope. I don't trust you with this."

"Why? It's not like it actually -"

Axel was interrupted when Roxas shot the wall, then the ceiling above his bed, and walked through the portal.

"Hooray for defying the laws of nature!" Roxas exclaimed as he jumped on the bed.

Axel was speechless.

Roxas jumped off the bed and made his way to his window. He opened it as wide as he could and portaled the white wall outside.

"Come on!" Roxas took Axel's hand and dragged him out through the portal to the outside.

The air was fresh and crisp, feeling like a spring night. There was moisture in the air but both of the men's hair was used to defying the laws of gravity or mother earth in general.

"Take this!" Roxas shoved him a space helmet and suit.

Axel stared at it. "What the…?"

"Put it on!" Roxas yelled as he put on his own helmet.

"I don't like where this is leading… Please let me be wrong." Axel muttered to himself as he did as he was told.

"Is it on?" Roxas walked up to him and pressed a few buttons on the helmet, safely securing it on Axel as he had already done for himself.

"Good! Ready?" Roxas aimed the portal gun to the moon.

"Roxas, don't!" Axel made a grab to stop him but it was too late. The portal has been shot.

"Axel, come here." Roxas tried to grab Axel to where he had placed the blue portal. "Any minute now…"

"Roxas, are you fucking crazy? What are you doing?" Axel yelled, refusing to move. Even if Roxas pushed with all his might, he wouldn't be able to push him.

"We only have seventeen seconds left! Either you come with me, or I'll go by myself." Roxas pouted.

Axel couldn't let his best friend go to space by himself now couldn't he?

"… Fine…" Axel briskly walked up to the blue portal, Roxas jumping and smiling the whole time.

But then a frightening idea came to him.

"Wait, how is the portal gonna close when we're on the moon?"

Not a second later, the portal appeared and began to suck everything into the vacuum of space.

"Space!" Roxas exclaimed as grabbed Axel's arm and jumped through the portal.

After they were across, Roxas shot the orange portal, closing their access to the earth and causing the pair to be lost in the vacuum of space.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"We're in space." Roxas sang as they floated around.

"Yeah. We're in space." Axel's flashback was officially over. They have been is space for about… seven minutes already.

Seven minutes of sheer boredom.

"SPPAAAACCCEEE!" Roxas yelled, orbiting around Axel.

"You are the farthest ever in space. Why me, space? Because you are the best. I'm the best at space? Yes." Roxas quoted, adjusting his voice to the different voices.

Axel was so desperate at this point that he began to pray.

"Alright, alright, God, I learned my lesson. Never get Roxas involved in video games. Ever. No matter what. Happy? Now, please, help us out. I want to go home. Wait, not home, I take it back. To college. I like my freedom. But on Earth, not space."

Roxas called in a normal voice, which Axel hadn't heard in days, "You are not amazed at the events that have occurred? You're one of the first people to ever be in space without the help of the government."

"I'm amazed that you made a functioning portal device in real life, but I don't think you realize that we are in the VOID OF SPACE." Axel said, starting to crack.

"Want to go home? I'm done examining space."

Axel jumped on the idea. "You know how to get us home?"

Roxas nodded. "I placed a portal on…" Roxas tapped his head in thought. "Now that I think about it, this explanation would be wasted on you. It's all simple physics."

Axel's jaw dropped. How contradicting! "Roxas, you do realize that you defied the laws of physics? Portal is a video game. Impossible to recreate in real life. IMPOSSIBLE!"

"And that is why the explanation as to how we can get home is wasted on you. Come on." Roxas took Axel's hand and took out a giant vacuum from his pocket. After he dragged himself and Axel through it, he shot the inside of his room and walked though the portal so that they were back in their dorm.

Roxas reattached the device to his persons. "Thanks for the idea, Axel. I owe ya one. Maybe I should start playing video games on my own." He grinned to himself, which made Axel shiver at the thought.

"No, no, no, no!" Axel has had his epiphany in space. No more video games for Roxas. Who knows what would happen if Roxas played Final Fantasy or Call of Duty? "Just stick to your portal gun and you'll be fine. Think of what we can do with it."

Roxas thought about it before he licked the device. "You are not to be trusted with this object. I shouldn't have expected you to realize what one can do with such a device." Roxas' eyes were widened.

"Authorization code 13701013777701398765432100001." The portal gun immediately reacted to the string of numbers that Roxas said before going into lockdown.

Roxas placed the gun back into the companion cube. "No one can be trusted with this device. Axel, get out so that I can properly dispose of it."

"What, no, I didn't mean -"

"NO ONE CAN BE TRUSTED!" Roxas dropped the cube to the ground and stepped on it, and Axel could hear the gun being crushed by the weight of his foot.

"NOOOOOO!" Axel knelt down to the ground, tears forming in his eyes. He just broke down and cried.

Roxas started at him before starting to back away from him. "Yeah… video games are bad. I'm going to class." And with that, Roxas stepped out of the room.

"Arugh. I guess I have no choice but to go back to class as well." Axel stomped out of the room and walked out the front door, not noticing Roxas behind him, watching him as he left.

"Alright." Roxas picked up the cube from the floor and stretched it out so that it was back to a cubical form.

He opened it to find the portal gun perfectly safe.

He grinned as he shrugged. "Eh, what's one little secret?"


	8. The Taste of Pie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because Axel cannot be trusted with silverware. Especially forks.

Axel places a slice of some unknown pastry in front of me.

I look up to him, back to the plate, back to him, then back to the plate again.

"Oh, here's the whipped cream." He places the can of creamed whip on the table, next to me.

"What… is this?" I stare at it with the strange urge to just grab the fork next to it and poke it.

"Roxas, don't tell me you don't know what pie is."

I look up to him again. "Pie?"

Axel's face is cold and serious. "Pie."

"Like the pi in math? I thought that was numbers."

Axel stares me down, and I suppress my urge to look back down at the so-called 'pie'.

His voice is unfeeling. "Roxas, you have never had pie before?"

I turn to the kitchen, which is a mess. "That may be true, but what I want to know is what is so special about today that calls for 'pie'?"

"Didn't you eat pizza for lunch today?"

Turning back towards him, I nod. "So? It was the special they had for lunch today in school."

"Pizza is a type of pie."

I stare at him, then to the pie. I give in and poke it with my fork. "This doesn't look like pizza."

Axel grabs my shoulder and pins me down to the floor. "No one makes fun of pie!"

I struggle to get out of his grip, but he only tightens his fingers on my shoulder. "What the hell, Axel?"

"No one fucks around when pie is involved." Axel stares into my eyes.

I stare back. "What is your deal with this whole pie thing?"

"What day is it today?"

"What?"

"WHAT DAY IS TODAY?"

"Geez, no reason to yell."

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"Monday?"

He slaps me on the cheek.

"What! You asked me what day was it today!"

Axel frowns. "I did? My bad." He slaps himself. "There, happy?"

"Hell no! I'll do it myself! Get off of me!"

"Are you threatening me?"

"I will if you don't get off of me!"

He rubbed against me, causing him to blush. "Sorry. I meant to ask, what date is it today?"

"March 14?"

Axel finally lets me go and takes back his seat. "Indeed it is. And what are the numbers for it?"

I begin to get up. "Three fourteen?" Ooooh… "So it does involve pi from math!"

Axel throws the fork at me and I catch it between my fingers.

"Just hurry up and eat your damn, undeserving pie." He goes back to the kitchen, and returns with a piece for himself and a fork.

I poke it once again. "You made this? You?"

Axel shrugs. "Yeah, so eat it." He grabs the whipped cream, shakes it, and foams his piece of pie. He reaches out for my piece and does the same as well. He began making weird noises as he did it. I rolled my eyes. After placing a rather large amount, he slides it back to me.

I push the plate away. "I don't trust your cooking."

Axel puts down the forkful of pie he was about to put in his mouth. "Roxas, don't make me anymore angry than I already was."

I fold my shoulders. "I don't want it!"

"Roxas, shut up and eat your pie."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I think I'm going to go to my room now." I get up from the table and begin to make my way out of the dining room.

A fork is thrown.

It stabs into the wall, effectively stopping me. I turn around to see Axel's arm raised.

He gets up, walks up to me, and takes out the fork from the wall.

He places his mouth to my ear to whisper, "You will stay and eat your pie." He walks back to his spot.

I slowly walk backwards and back to my seat.

Axel smiles. "Good. Now eat your pie."

Shaking, I take a hold of the fork, and grab a forkful of this 'pie'.

I eye it. "What flavor is it?"

"Pie flavor."

I roll my eyes. "Of course it is."

We both take a bite from the homemade pie at the same time.

And at the same time, spit it out.

"Eww, this tastes like crap." He wipes his tongue.

I laugh. "You're the one who made it!"

Axel blushes. "S-shut up! Okay, I can't cook. I'm going to order one." He gets up to leave the room to the phone.

As he leaves, I scoop up more of the pie into my mouth, murmuring, "Happy Pie Day."


	9. Delusions and Hallucinations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The voices tell him to get out and leave, but his therapist will keep him grounded in the reality he clearly belonged in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Delusions are false beliefs - in the patient's mind they're true. Hallucinations just affect the senses.

In his opinion, the brat was just too damn persistent. Didn't he understand the meaning of patient confidentiality? So what if he was the one who brought his friend in for treatment? So what if he was concerned? Axel knew how to keep secrets, and as a doctor he kept a lot of them. If he didn't, he surely wouldn't be here right now. And where he was right now was where he most liked to be.

Dr. Kitaniji Axel leaned back into his leather chair, tapping on the clipboard with the pen in his hand. "Tell me again, what did he say exactly?"

The person in front of him didn't want to meet his gaze and gave it to the floor as he answered, "I… can't remember…"

Axel sighed. He should really have him thrown out of the premises. Better yet, get a restraining order.

No, that wouldn't work. He was the one who brought his patient in the first place. But if he could get him to do it...

Axel smiled. "It's alright. We can talk about it later, if you would like. Tell me, are the voices still present? Do you still hear them?"

The teen mumbled, "… On occasion. Not as much anymore."

Some progress. Excellent, excellent. The doctor took note of it down in clipping board. "What do they say?"

"… They say that it isn't real, that I'm not even real. I'm not needed anymore. But, Doctor, why -"

The pen could have snapped in his hand from the pressure it was under. "It's not you, Roxas, it's them. We've been over this countless times. Why suddenly doubt me now?" Cerulean blue eyes trailed over to the door, and the doctor slammed down his board onto the table, the pen safely secured because it was attached through a chain.

He couldn't keep the malice out of his voice. "It was that damned brat, wasn't it?"

"..." Shifty eyes can deny the lies but the truth can be seen in them as well.

"I thought so." Axel took a deep breath and exhaled it as he stood up from his chair and picked up what he has thrown. "Why won't you take my advice and just get rid of him?"

Eyes continued to stay on the maroon rug in front of him, rubbing his arm nervously as he replied, "… I just can't. Something won't let me."

Axel leaned forward. "Would you like to talk about it?"

The teen scuffled in his seat, nervous as the therapist relaxed into his chair. He glanced at the clock when suddenly a timer went off. The man who had just previously relaxed frowned before taking a glance at his watch. "Would you like to extend the session?"

Roxas shook his head. "… I'd rather not. Could you just give me my meds now?"

The doctor reached into his pocket and removed a bottle of light orange pills as well as a green tablet. "You know what you take, correct?"

The teen nodded as he reached for the medicine, popping the green tablet in his mouth. He removed a bottle of water from the edge of his backpack, unscrewed the cap before placing the rim to his lips. He poured down the tasteless liquid down his throat, bringing the drug down with it. He closed his eyes and fell back down onto the chaise lounge, leather crinkling as the red headed doctor grinned.

o-o-o-o-o

A door creaking open alerted Axel to a new presence in his office. He peeked up from his work and smiled at who he saw. "Back again so soon?"

Roxas nodded timidly, quietly taking his usual seat. "… I don't know how I end up coming here."

Axel smiled as he pushed away useless crap that wasn't needed now that his favorite patient was here. "It's fine, you're always welcome." He smiled warmly at the teen. "Welcome back." His eyes moved over to his opaque window at the door, looking for that familiar, annoying silhouette. To his surprise and happiness, he didn't see it anywhere nearby. "Hmm, it would seem that you are alone."

"I took your advice."

"Oh?" The man connected his hands together as if to say a prayer, but it was to hide his grin instead. He leaned on his desk, looking down at the papers and files that littered the workspace. "And what was that, exactly?"

"I…" Roxas put more power in his voice. "I got rid of him."

The grin turned feral behind the hands.

"Glad to see you finally listening to me."

"Yeah, well." Roxas scratched his head as he looked away. "Anything to get rid of the voices."

Oh, they'll be leaving soon, really soon now that he was gone. "And has it helped?"

The teen nodded. "Actually, yes. One of them is very quiet, causing another to recede to comfort him, with the third one not giving a fuck."

The doctor blinked before he chuckled. "I've never heard you speak this way before."

"Yeah well." His patient shrugged before smiling wide. "I just… I feel more free, you know?"

"Oh?" The doctor raised an eyebrow as he took a note on his board. "That's excellent news."

The spiky haired teen smiled shyly as he moved back to the door to leave. "Thanks, Doctor."

The doctor continued to take notes. "No, thank you, Roxas. It's a pleasure to help."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The teen panted, covered in sweat. He started to shiver, pushing his therapist off of his bare chest. "I don't think I like this!" he exclaimed, an uncomfortable heat spreading throughout his body. "And they surely don't!"

Those words made Axel grow cold. He thought they were gone, they should be gone. "They're back?" The doctor moved back and narrowed his eyes. He reached out for his clipboard, quickly reading over notes. "I thought we got rid of them."

The teen started to hyperventilate, shaking as he moved into a corner and hugged himself to keep warm. "I…" He clutched his head. "They won't go away! Arugh," He fell to the ground, folding into himself to a fetal position.

The doctor dropped his things and quickly moved to comfort his patient, who was starting to cry.

He pushed the doctor away, whimpering faintly. "No, stop, please..." He let out an anguished cry as he shut his eyes shut.

"Shh, Roxas, it's okay," the doctor tried to comfort, massaging the teen's thighs to get back to work on what they were doing earlier.

Roxas continued to cry, receding into a slight hiccup as he began to relax. "Sora..."

Whispering words of comfort just flew out of the red head's mouth as he tried to calm the teen down, mentally realizing what he has to do and berating himself for not doing it earlier.

He has to go even deeper.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Roxas, you need to go now. You've been here too long. Riku's really worried.

Roxas shook his head, covering his ears to block out the mental scolding. "I don't know what you're talking about! Leave me alone!"

The voice let out a heavy sigh, not liking where the conversation was leading to. He sounded… disappointed. I was being too nice on you. You're being really selfish.

"No! You three are! You three are mean!"

Another voice huffed, Why the hell are you bringing me into this? I don't care what happens.

The former voice was flabbergasted. V-Vanitas! How could you?

Vanitas shrugged. So what if he takes it, what do I care? It's not as if you'd let me come. And that makes me as dead as is.

Riku… A hollow voice whispered very faintly.

Roxas, the voice sounded desperate. You need to go now!

Roxas slammed his head on the wall, creating an indent in the plaster and ignoring the pain and blood that ran down his forehead. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He began to struggle against his bindings, cursing the straitjacket he was forced to wear.

The last thing he heard was a door slamming open and felt himself being lifted from his bed as harsh, twisted laugher followed him into unconsciousness.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Doctor, please - "

Axel slammed into that spot, making the teen scream shrilly under the writhe in a mix of pain and pleasure, with the pleasure overtaking the pain.

Sapphire stared into the emerald eyes, void of life. Axel licked away the tears that streamed down, gently holding his patient as he continued to move deeper into him, fingers twirling in luscious chocolate locks.

"I'm sure now, Roxas, that everything's going to be fine now," he grunted as he released in the teen, placing his lips on the younger's in a desperate kiss to bring him back.

When the eyes opened once more, Axel hugged onto him tightly, vowing to never let him go.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Finally, you came back. I was starting to think you'd never show."

Axel was surprised at Riku's speed, he was across the hall one second and in his face in the next. Meeting the brat was a careless thing to do, but it didn't matter now. He had Roxas.

"Bastard, give me some answers!" Riku grabbed onto his white coat, but Axel wasn't fazed. There was nothing he could do now. "Fuck that patient confidentiality shit, I know for a fact that Sora checked himself out weeks ago! What did you do, what did you do to Sora?" The silver haired teen demanded, shaking in anger and rage.

Axel just smirked. "He's gone now. All of them are gone. All that remains is Roxas."

He was expecting the punch that followed the answer, but was surprised at how strong it was. "Bastard!" Riku exclaimed, pushing themselves to the floor, scattering the various files that Axel left on his desk.

All of the concerning the case of Sakuraba Sora.

"We came to stop the voices!" Riku cried, slamming his fists onto the doctor. "Not to let one of them take over!"

Axel withstood the pain, it not bothering him in the slightest. Nothing mattered anymore - he finally got what he wanted. Roxas.

"At least tell me where he is!" The teen cried, "What did you do with him! Where is he?"

But there was always that risk. That Sora can come back and take Roxas from him. "I'll never let you two meet ever again," Axel said, "I'll never take the risk."

"You..." Riku's punches grew weaker as tears began to stream down his cheeks. "Sora..."

He shouldn't have listened when he told him to leave him alone, he should have ignored the restraining order, he should have fought harder to stay by Sora's side.

But most of all, he never should have brought Sora to the Xehanort Psychiatric Hospital.

Axel grinned deviously, sliding the teen off of him. Riku was frozen, so Axel began gathering up the Sakuraba case files to burn at home. Where Roxas would be waiting for him with open arms and legs.

"Perhaps if you didn't call your boyfriend 'crazy', Kiryu Riku," Axel called from the door, "he would still be here. The littlest things can break a person, if you know what I mean."

And leaving a stunned Riku behind, Axel left the room to get back to Roxas, his beloved.


	10. Meeting Others

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora meets Neku while searching for Shiki on this Day of the Reaper's Game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was done when it was first revealed that TWEWY was going to be in 3D.

Traverse Town… Man does this bring back memories.

Sora smiled at the happy times that he had here on his first ever world on his journey to find his friends. Meeting Donald and Goofy and forming a team together, meeting Leon and Yuffie who explained somewhat everything that he needed to know, Aerith, Cid…

This place was a happy place.

He recalls not being able to come back during his last adventure, with that whole Organization XIII and nobodies fiasco, but it was nice to come back on this new one.

But first, gotta find Riku!

No matter how badly he wanted to see his friends - if any were still here instead of Radiant Garden, now that he thought about it - he had to find Riku first. They were actually together for this adventure, and no way was he gonna lose him during this one!

He dashed past the Accessory, Gummy, and Synthesis Shoppe, as well as Pinocchio and Geppetto's home, and whizzed to the Second District.

Instead of finding silver, he found orange.

Whoa, I've never see this person before!

Sora halted in his place, eyes wide as he watched him look around. The new visitor to the town, looked at his hand and Sora could have sworn he muttered, "Running out of time… Where is she?" in an annoyed tone.

Sorry, Riku. I have to help him first. "Hey, do you need any help?"

The stranger turned around at the sound of Sora' voice, eyes darkening and frowning as he looked over the chocolate haired boy, who smiling at him as he took in the features of the orange haired boy.

"… Were you talking to me?" He asked, sounding even more annoyed.

Tall and slender, with spiky orange hair with blue eyes seemed to have captured Sora in his gaze as he couldn't look away. He had bluish-purple headphones on his ears - Sora mildly wondered how he could have heard him ask, since he wasn't speaking that loudly over the music, which he could now faintly hear. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt with a funnel-shaped collar with bluish-purple stripe outlined with gold going down the middle and white shorts held up by a loose fitting belt. Sora spotted a sweatband on his left arm, and matching black shoes with a blue/purple stripe outlined in gold, similar to the color and style of his shirt.

Sora blinked as he tried to focus. "Wait… do I know you?"

"… I don't know you, so I doubt it." The kid shrugged, checking his phone again before moving to leave.

"My name's Sora, what's yours?" He asked as he moved a little closer to the spiky orange boy, who was moving slightly away, eyes dashing to his phone before looking back at Sora with even more of a frown than before.

"… Why should I give you mine? Common courtesy? I didn't ask for you to introduce yourself. Did you expect a name in return?" He started to walk away, taking another glance at his hand before putting it in his pocket.

Sora couldn't just let him leave without knowing his name. "Wait!" The boy slowed in his movements, sighed, then walked back to Sora.

"Suppose I might as well." He muttered. "Name's Sakuraba Neku. I'm looking for my friend, Misaki Shiki. Have you seen her? Red hair, grey eyes, a hat, for some reason that I don't understand, has a black cat plushie?" Neku sighed before taking another glance at his hand he took out of his pocket. Sora's eyes widened as he saw some sort of timer counting down, seconds passing by as Neku groaned irritably as he watched the numbers tick down as well.

Sora's revelation suddenly came forward as he had a sharp intake of breath and grabbed Neku's shoulders and narrowed in on his face.

"Oh my god… don't tell me I have another one." Sora groaned. Neku got out of his grip, eyes glaring.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Neku slapped him away, eyes stabbing the keyblade hero, who was shaking his head.

"I can't believe I have another one." He said, still shaking his head. "Hey, did you know Roxas too?" Sora asked, Neku frowning at him as he wacked himself in the head some more. Instead of answering, he started to walk away without another glance at the key bearer.

"Can't believe I even bothered to try… Idiot." Sora heard him mutter.

"Wait!" He ran after him and grabbed Neku's shoulder, who quickly jerked it away.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Neku exploded as Sora narrowed his eyes at him. Neku growled at him, wanting to leave but at the same time was held in place by the knowing look in Sora' eyes.

"We look too much alike… you must be one of my nobodies, aren't you?" Sora asked, eyes having a knowing look in his eyes that irked the headphone kid.

Neku blinked a couple of times as he did a double-take. "Your nobody?" He gave a harsh laugh. "Never heard that one before. Listen hear, kid," Neku narrowed his own eyes at Sora as he grabbed his shirt and pulled him close to him that Sora could feel his breath on his face. "Don't you even think of touching me ever again." He pushed him back, cursing under his breath.

"Never again will I follow Shiki's stupid advice..." He sighed before taking off, heading for the Third District.

"Wait!" But this time Neku didn't stop, and left the 'key' with his assumptions, shaking his head.

"I can't believe I have another one..." Sora sighed.

I wonder how Roxas' doing.

Sora shook his head. What's done is done. He couldn't help Roxas now. He practically ruined Roxas' life, and he could still occasionally feel a slight twinge of pain from Roxas' side of his heart - from the loneliness and pain that he caused him because of his destiny.

But this time he wasn't gonna let this happen to Neku. He doesn't know what happened to him, but he was just oozing loneliness and pain already! At least with Roxas he had Axel, Naminé and, to some extent, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They helped him hold it together. From his tone of voice, Neku didn't like this Shiki character. Did he have any other friends? He didn't want what happened to Roxas to happened to another.

Sora slapped himself. What was he doing? He was letting his other nobody run off, wasting time!

Maybe I'll meet up with Riku along the way, but first I gotta help Neku and find this Shiki! Red hair… Kairi's nobody as well? When did we get all these other nobodies? Does Riku have one? Maybe she could help me! Neku first, Riku second.

Sora dashed off after Neku, following him into the Third District, Riku now his second priority as his desire to save out his other other overweighing his friend on this new adventure.


	11. Milk and Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel sighed while Roxas giggled. "They always get the coloring wrong! It's red hair and white suit, not the other way around! Curse you Thomas Mast!" (Christmas 2011)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thomas Mast was the designer of the Santa Claus that we all picture when we say that name. Just in case you didn't know.

It was just a regular run - at least it was until he lowered himself down into the child's home while grabbing his list just to make sure everything was in order.

"138 Wayward Lane, child named Astoria, Roxas. Status: Nice." He reached into his magical sack and removed two unwrapped box. Before placing it underneath the tree, he brought it close to his face and stared at it, peering into its depths.

"A Heartless plushie. Who'd'a thought?" He tucked the present underneath the tree before hearing a soft gasp.

He turned to find a tiny blond child with bight cerulean eyes covered underneath a dark blue blanket, clutching a Nobody plushie close to his baby chest.

"Mowmy! Daddwey! Stwranger danger!" The child managed to screech before the intruder swiftly moved to cover his mouth.

"Shush, child, can't you see that you've been graced with the presence of the one and only Santa Claus?" Santa softly yet sternly whispered.

The child's eyes grew wide before he shook his head. Santa removed his hand to let him speak.

"Yowu're not Swanta! Swanta wears wred and has white haiwr! Yowu're wearwing white and havwe wred haiwr!"

Santa sighed, exasperated, "But trust me, Astoria Roxas, I am the one and only Santa Claus! It's those idiots that to the marketing! They always get the coloring wrong! It's red hair and white suit, not the other way around! Seriously, they've celebrated for centuries and they still can't correct the coloring? Curse you Thomas Mast!"

Roxas softly giggled at the red head's frustration. "Yowu're not Swanta, so why don't I cawll yowu Axwel instead?"

Santa raised an eyebrow. "Why Axel?"

Roxas shrugged. "Becawuse of rweasons."

"Oh, I love you, kid. Here," Axel reached from underneath his suit and pulled out a silver bell wrapped as a snowflake. "Take this."

Roxas eyed the necklace, and Axel laughed. "No worries, your precious Heartless plushie is underneath the tree, see the red box with just hints of green?"

Roxas gasped before running to the tree to retrieve the box that Axel described. He unwrapped the gift to find, indeed, the Heartless plushie that he had asked for.

"H-ha-how-" Roxas managed to gasp out as Axel put on the necklace on his person.

"How did I know what you wanted for Christmas? I don't know, maybe you can reread the letter that you sent to me a month ago?" Axel reached out from deep within his pocket and removed an ice blue envelope.

"B-bwut-"

"I guess I'll read it then." Axel unfolded the letter and stared at its contents before he began.

"For Santa's eyes only," Axel read,

"Dear Santa, Sora keeps telling me that you don't exist. Sora says that my parents read my letters and just buy what I want and give you the credit. When I asked them, they agreed with him! So I want to try this. Santa, all I want from you is a Heartless plushie. I'm not letting anyone else read this letter, so if I get this plushie, then I know that you exist.

"And look, you even drew it! I got to admit, though your speech has something to be desired, your writing skills are amazing for a five year old." Axel flashed him the paper before refolding and placing it back into his pocket.

"Why don't you go and unwrap that present, huh?" Axel pointed underneath the tree. Roxas followed his finger and picked up the present, studying it carefully before unwrapping it.

The black felt of the ears of the Heartless plushie were the only parts that Roxas saw before he turned to hug Axel. "It's twrue! Yowu wrewly awre Swanta!" He shied back down, embarrassed. "Sorawy."

The red head laughed. "Yes, but you can just call me Axel. Because of reasons." He took a look at the clock. "Well, I have to go and give your friend Sora some coal." He started walking back towards the fireplace.

"Will yowu come bacwk?"

He turned back to see the beginnings of tears in Roxas' eyes. He placed his hand over his mouth before reaching out in his magical sack and took out a bag of cookies. He removed one from the bag and handed it to the blond child, who was trying and failing to hide away his tears. His eyes grew wide as he accepted the cookie, omnomnoming it.

"Merry Christmas, Roxas," Axel murmured and waved good-bye as the child was distracted. "As long as you wear that necklace, and eat those cookies that I send you, I'll always come back." He whisked away, leaving the child behind to play with his present along with his other doll.

~Ten Years Later~

Up above the chimney, click, click clicks could be heard as feet landed on the soft blanket of snow that covered the roof. Inviting eyes of a light shade of evergreen studied the landscape before straightening his belt and moving down low, taking great caution to not get any soot on his snow white suit.

Black boots finally reaching the floor, the man removed a snow white hat that was covering his flaming red hair and reached out for his magical sack that descended with him. He pulled out a long white wrapped present tied together with a red ribbon and smiled. "Toy swords tor Christmas of all things…"

He has many, many names. He is well known by many other names such as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Santa, Santy, Kris Kringle, as well as many others all across the world. He has to admit that the strangest name that he had was thanks to a Mr. Buton as 'Sandy Claws', but accepted it nonetheless.

However, he gave himself a new name, a new identity. 'Axel' was what he was preferred now actually, but only two people knew that. It was the name that the five year old gave him all those years ago, and it struck a chord within the Spirit of Christmas. He didn't know when it started, but soon he found himself taking great care to protect the child, to let him keep the pure innocence of children that were never meant to be kept after reaching a certain age.

Axel placed the gift underneath the tree before looking around the living room before finally spotting the one he was looking for. There, on the couch wrapped in a warm blanket, was little Roxas Astoria, age fourteen, clutching himself close to his chest for warmth. Axel could see the little spikes of silver that he personally gave the child ten years ago, keeping him a firm believer in the Père Noël.

Seeing an opening, Axel took a seat beside the child on the couch. He raised the sleeping figure, raised him in a sitting position and placed him on a lap as the blond began to stir.

Twinkling blue eyes gazed up upon him, Axel frowned when the owner of the blue eyes switched from admiration to shock before staying as annoyance. The ice blue gaze continued as its owner hopped out of the red head's lap and to the floor. Luscious blond locks curled into his face as Roxas stuck out his tongue at the red head.

"Axel! What are you doing here?" The child's voice pierced the silence in a harsh whisper. "I haven't seen you since forever!" The whisper, however, changed in tone from harsh to excitement.

Axel smiled. "Glad to see you haven't changed."

Roxas blinked, eyes shifting from annoyance to confusion. "What's different?"

The red head just pat his head and snatched one of the cookies from the coffee table. "Man, I've been waiting a whole year for these!" He popped one in his mouth, chewing as Roxas's laughter bubbled from within him.

"Only for you, Axel!" Roxas continued to bubble before hopping from excitement.

Axel smiled as he reached out from his pocket and removed a bag of cookies. "Have you been eating all the cookies I've sent you?" He unwrapped the bag and handed one to the child, who smiled before taking the treat and stuffing it all in his mouth.

"Owf cowurswe!" Roxas managed to speak out with his mouthful of cookie. "Ewvey eiwught owf tweh mouwth, ewat tweh cookwie weft on tweh tabewl!" Axel smiled at his answer.

The blond swallowed the cookie, taking the glass of milk next to the homemade cookies that he left out earlier and took a gulp. "Anyway, what did you get me this year?" Sapphires beamed at emeralds as they turned under the tree.

"Well, you have been awfully nice this year..." Roxas continued to smile as he moved to the wrapped present underneath the tree, but halted when a soft, gloved hand grabbed his wrist.

"I see that you have started dating that girl… little Hailty, Naminé. Now she, hasn't been so nice. Not nice at all." The previously warm inviting eyes turned cold and hard as the hand tightened on the black and white checkered wristband. He narrowed his eyes. If she still believed in him, she would have received a mountain of coal.

The cerulean eyes shifted shyly as he removed himself from Axel's loosened grip. "Well, yeah, uh, she… um… kissed me," He whispered softly before clearing his voice. "Besides, Sora says that I should considering that she's the sister of his own girlfriend."

Axel just shook his head. "Roxas, Roxas, Roxas," He pulled the blond back to the couch on his lap. "So are you saying that if we kiss, then we would be dating?" He took hold of the child's chin and looked into his eyes, deep with confusion. He studied them as he moved closer to the rose lips, looking them with his own.

"So, Roxas," The red head whispered, tone husky, "are we dating?"

Roxas just blushed as he nodded before pausing and shaking his head. "But Mommy and Daddy always told me that I should only date girls. I should listen to my parents, right, Axel? And they already don't like me enough as it is, telling me that I should just act my age. How old am I, Axel?"

Axel just rustled his hand through the blond locks and stared into those beautiful, naïve eyes. "You've only aged a little, sweetie. You're about seven right now to me, and as long as you eat those cookies, you'll remain that way. Roxas, trust me, you don't want to grow up. The adult world is a harsh, harsh world. You're not missing anything."

"But, Axel, I don't feel like I'm seven. I'm taller, moving up in school, and…" Roxas trailed off, face turning as crimson as the fireplace.

Axel just continued to smile. "And what, Roxas?"

Roxas in reply buried himself into the red head's chest and murmured incoherently.

"What was that, sweetheart?" Axel raised the blond's face to his own.

"Everything feels weird, Axel. I'm not too sure if l like it or not," the blond confessed, much to the surprise of the Gift Giver.

"Roxas," Axel whispered before capturing his lips once more. This time, however, he massaged the younger child's - at least in mindset - cheeks, coaxing the mouth to open. Gently, the red head moved his tongue inside the blond's, feeling the taste of the sugar and peppermint cookie that he had last eaten.

The blond just gasped underneath the red head's embrace, losing himself in the kiss as the two had to break apart to take a breath.

"Does little Miss Hailty ever kiss you like that?" Axel smiled as Roxas shook his head, face still red.

"No…" He answered shyly before widening his eyes. "But, Axel! Don't you have a Mrs. Claus in the North Pole?" He asked as Axel continued to gently glide his fingers in his soft, feathery hair.

"What she doesn't know, won't hurt her," Axel winked at the blond, who blushed. The red head took a peek to the grandfather clock that was placed above the fireplace.

"Look at the time! I'm running late!" Axel grabbed the rest of the cookies on the coffee table and stuffed them into his magical sack before tossing it over his shoulder. He pulled the blond back into his arms for a quick, chaste kiss upon the lips.

"That's how she kisses me," Roxas shyly commented, causing Axel to frown. He grabbed the blond tighter to his person, kissing him once more with more fervor. They stayed there for a good twenty seconds before Axel pulled back with a grin on his face. He moved to his ear and whispered, "I love you, Roxas, don't ever forget that."

Don't ever change. Just eat those cookies every month and you'll stay wrapped in that blanket ofnaïveté that I keep you in for the rest of time.

He moved back as he started to fade away, returning back to the roof. "Merry Christmas, Roxas." He stole a quick kiss on the lips as Roxas blinked before he vanished. The blond placed his fingers on his lips before smiling and moving back into the couch and underneath the covers hand in hand with his Heartless and Nobody plushie.

"Merry Christmas indeed."


	12. Facsimile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ventus goes missing and Eraqus goes out searching, he finds an almost exact replica of the student. And when something cannot be found, it is simply replaced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part of a chaptered thing but I'm not sure if I'll finish it.

There was something not quite right with this mission.

Roxas could have sworn that he was being watched. He could just feel a pair of eyes constantly watching his every move. And it unnerved him to no end.

But the mission has been bizarre even before that.

It was easy enough - help Axel perform reconnaissance on Twilight Town, more specifically by the Old Mansion, seemingly abandoned. There were rumors heard that's a person in the windows, watching from the curtains, but he was pretty sure that it was just a ghost tale.

The White Room contained nothing. However, in the Library, they happened to find a strange type of enemy that not even Axel had seen before, a creature of dark, midnight blue with piercing red eyes and pointy limbs and ears. It was very small - perhaps a quarter the size of Roxas' leg, maybe the size of a Creeper, but it didn't attack. All it did was watch the two from the shadows.

Feeling somewhat anxious, Roxas squeaked when it moved, causing Axel to throw his chakaram at it. It quickly faded away, indicating that it weren't particularity strong creature, whatever the heck it was.

However, just after it disappeared, another would soon enough take its place. Roxas would quickly slash it with his keyblade, which would just summon another, and another, and another, and they decided to bail on the mission, determining that they had already gathered enough information for Saïx. It was a rumor.

After closing the doors of the mansion and leaving the area grounds into the forest, Roxas shivered unconsciously, a prickling feeling creeping into his system. At first he ignored it, but soon enough it was just so disturbing that he couldn't.

He found himself moving much closer to Axel than he usually would - only being about three centimeters of personal space between them. He grabbed Axel's arm and pulled it towards in him in a death grip, causing him to freeze in place as Roxas moved to his tiptoes and whispered, "Do you feel that?"

Axel turned to face him, eyebrow raised in the air. "Feel what?"

"Feel that." Roxas turned around, scanning the area for any eyes.

Axel chuckled and shrugged off Roxas' grip on him. "I think you've gone a little paranoid after Xion disappeared."

Roxas was not amused. "I'm serious, Axel, there's something out there, watching us…me. I can feel it."

"Look, Roxas, why don't we finish up this mission so that we can RTC, huh? We can even come back to the Clock Tower and eat some sea-salt ice cream. Would that calm your nerves?" Axel suggested as he started to continue walking.

"I guess so..." Roxas trailed off, still looking back. "Let's just get out of these Woods and back to the portal." He turned around. "Axel?"

Roxas was all alone.

The blond looked around, breathing calmly. "Okay, okay, be cool, be cool, you can do this. All you have to do is exit the forest. Yeah, leave the Woods. Easy enough." Roxas took a step forward, another, and then another. "Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

Soon enough, he was lost.

"How in the worlds do I get lost in the Woods?" Roxas collapsed down to the ground. Raising himself to a sitting position, he hit himself on the head. "I'm such an idiot! First I start…feeling…things..."

'Feeling'… in every sense of the word.

Not even including the whole ghost eyes part, but the emotions that he wasn't supposed to be feeling since he was, technically, without a heart. Yet, he felt a sense of slight hatred against Saïx and Xemnas; a sense of happiness when with Axel and Xion. Nobodies weren't supposed to feel anything, right?

"...Then I lose Axel, and now I'm lost in the freakin' forest!" He hit himself harder. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Hello, young man. What seems to be the problem?"

Roxas shot up from the ground, and found himself face to face with a complete stranger bending down over him.

His black hair tied into a short, high topknot, with one bang falling off to the right side of his face along with a short, triangular soul patch and a mustache gave the man a samurai look to him. He reminded Roxas a little about his own subordinates, the samurais. Who were never around to do what he says. But that's beside the point.

Along with his hakama, Roxas also noticed his scars on his face. He also had some strange looking pieces of armor along his stomach and boots of the same material.

This man wasn't from Twilight Town, that's for sure. There was something quite suspicious of this person - he should keep his guard up.

But there was a sense of warmth from him, a feeling of security.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks." He smiled. "Just… lost." Yeah, lost. He needs to admit it. He gave the man a loopy grin, scratching his head, but quickly shook his head. He needs to look serious!

The man smiled at him, eyes studying him over. "Lost?"

Roxas scratched his neck and looked down to the ground as a reflex of being studied. It seems that all that everyone wanted to do was study him. Well, besides Axel and Xion, his friends who actually cares about him. Oh, and maybe Demyx. But Demyx was Demyx. Still looking on the ground, Roxas spoke timidly, "Yeah, uh, you wouldn't happen to know how to get back to the Tram Common?" He looked up to the man, gaining some confidence. "I need to meet up my friend there."

"Tram Common… as a matter of fact, I do." The man gave an expression of thought. "But would you mind helping me first?"

"Help…?" Roxas wasn't so sure… was he allowed to?

The man nodded. "Oh yes, one of my students has gone missing, and it would be within everyone's best interests if he was found. You see, he was a very important student of mine…very important. Then one day he just…disappeared. And if it was known that he was gone…" He shook his head before turning back to Roxas, slightly smiling. "I'm looking for him, and found you instead." The man studied Roxas again, causing him to look down out of habit.

"'One of your students' you said… are you a teacher?" Roxas has never met a teacher before. All he ever got was mentors. But they were the same, right?

The man gave him a smile. "You could say that."

"Wait… so is this a test?" He looked at the teacher. Of course, he wasn't wearing the Organization's cloak. But why else would he meet a teacher here?

"..." The man said nothing, but this was all the response Roxas needed.

Drawing to his own conclusions, he said, "Oh, of course! This must be a test, but you're not allowed to let me know, right?" Roxas didn't give the man another glance as he raised his fist in the air. "Alright! I was able to determine a test! What does this even count for? Deductive reasoning?"

"But of course," the man answered smoothly, causing Roxas to stop in his excitement and turned back towards him. "Would you be so kind as to take off your cloak?"

"Take off my cloak?" Roxas asked, looking at him curiously. "Why would I need to do that?"

"Just take it off. Unless," The man smirked and bent down. "You aren't wearing any clothes underneath?"

Roxas stammered out, "O-of ccourse I am!" as he shed his uniform, a dark red coloring his cheeks. He folded it in half and placed it on his arm, now sporting a black, high-collared jacket under a white jacket with two-colored pants, being a light and dark shade of beige. His shoes were colored in shades of grey and black, with red straps in place of laces, along with his black-and-white checkerboard wristband, black ring, and white ring accessories.

His face now a light pink, he looked at the ground again as he saw the man's eyes grow wide. He didn't know how this outfit really worked - the last one, using blue and purple colors, was a disaster. After digging around in the closet, he was able to find the clothes he was currently trying out. What can he say? He liked to color-coordinate.

"…Is it really that bad?" he asked since there was a moment of more studying and awkwardness. Yes, this man was definitely sent by the Organization. No one else studied him that much.

He blinked. "What? Your outfit? No, of course not. It's perfect." He grinned. "Now, for the rest of the test, since you caught me, you might want to close your eyes."

Roxas blinked himself. "Close my eyes?"

The mentor nodded. "Close your eyes. We need to get going." He held out his hand.

Roxas was hesitant. "I don't know…I don't even know your name." Nevertheless, he took the offered hand. One doesn't disobey orders. Hypocritically, however, he didn't close his eyes.

"My name?" The man chuckled, his hand moving up Roxas' hand to his arm to his shoulder, getting closer to his neck. "You can call me Eraqus."

He suddenly grabbed his neck, squeezed hard and tight, and caught Roxas as he fell towards the ground, passed out.

"Master Eraqus."

o-o-o-o-o-o

When Roxas came to, he found himself in the arms of the teacher…Eraqus, he had said his name was. Before he knocked him out anyway.

He cracked his right eye open, taking a peek at his surroundings. Everything was blurry, a swirl of blue, green and gold meshed together. Feeling squeamish, he shifted a little to get a better position, which was noticed by Eraqus. He looked down at him. "Oh, you're awake? That was fast. How are you feeling?" He was still smiling.

Roxas wanted to form words, but he was too disoriented to do so. "…ami?" He managed to say.

"Feeling tired, are we? That must be from the traveling. While I must admit that traveling without any gear to protect one from the darkness isn't very safe, we just couldn't stay. Wouldn't want your little friend coming back for you. Besides, Twilight Town isn't as far as the others."

Even though he was confused, he managed to catch the beginning words. "-ling?" Roxas asked, eyes swirling to look around, which made him even dizzier. So this is what happens when a Nobody travels without any protection.

"Relax. You're going to get yourself sick if you don't." Eraqus stopped and sat him down on a stone bench looking at a waterfall.

Roxas tried to swat him away, trying to gather his thoughts. He then tried to stand, but quickly lost his footing and would have fallen to the ground if Eraqus wasn't there to catch him.

"G-get away!" His voice and body shaky, he tried to summon his keyblade, but it quickly dissolved as he couldn't keep his grip on it. He found himself back in his kidnapper's arms and they were walking again.

"Listen, Roxas, that's your name, right?" Roxas stared wide-eyed at him. He knows he didn't introduce himself.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, still feeling light-headed. He tried to look at where they were going, and could see a white castle in the distance.

"One picks up many things when searching for his lost student." Eraqus had a gleaming look in his eye as he looked down at the child.

But he could still put some pieces together. "So, to search for your student, you kidnap me and bring me to another world?"

Eraqus halted, and Roxas could now see they were right in front of the castle before realizing that he bent down to his ear. He slightly jumped, which was constricted by the restriction of his arms as Eraqus whispered, "I wouldn't be saying search, in terms… but rather found."

Roxas blinked several times, trying to stay awake. "Huh?"

His captor whispered, "As in to say, you look exactly like my lost student, Ventus. You have the same hair, eyes, physical features…even the same color pattern of clothes. And since he cannot be found…he must simply be…replaced."

"Replaced?" Roxas was beginning to see black on the top of his vision as they entered the castle, hearing the footsteps of two other people who were crowding to see him. Eyelids now dropping, Roxas battled an internal struggle as he tried to stay awake without the strength to do so. He had a strong feeling that he would need to hear this conversation.

"Ven?" Roxas could hear a light, high voice that sounded intellectual from a woman ask. Taking a glance at her, the only thing that he was able to establish was that she had blue hair. Like Saïx's, he randomly noted.

"Yes, I found him wandering the darkness," he heard the teacher lie.

"The darkness? How did he end up there?" Another voice, this one more deep and masculine, a man most likely, questioned, sounding weary and frightened.

"Does it really matter at this point, Terra? All that matters is that he's home and safe." The woman sounded happy.

"...Home?" Roxas asked, straining to look around without moving as much. Which, even if he wanted to, couldn't because of the teacher's grip on his arms.

"You're home now, Ven." She caressed his face in an endearing manner.

"...No..." Roxas whimpered, shying away from her touch, causing the woman to gasp in shock as a response.

"Can't you tell? Can't you tell that I'm not this 'Ven' character that you think I am? Or are you so blinded by the words of this man?" Is what Roxas wanted to say.

Instead, he just let out a series of noises of bewilderment, no coherent words able to form and take shape.

"The darkness must have affected him more than I thought." Eraqus sounded thoughtful. "I think it may have affected his memory."

"What should we do, teacher?" the two asked. The students, Roxas realized.

"It would probably be helpful if he got some rest after his ordeal," the teacher commented, a ghost of a smile on his face that Roxas saw, but was left unnoticed by the students.

"I'll take him to his room; he should rest right away," the girl offered, arms open, stepping forward to take him.

The other student put his arm forward to stop her, stepping forward as well. "No, let me. I'll take him," the man said, sounding more pleading. The two began to bicker, which intensified Roxas' already bursting headache. While it did help keep him awake, he would rather be asleep at this point to relive himself from the pain. He let out a quiet whimper and clutched his head, which was noticed by his holder.

"I'll take him," Erqaus stated, walking forward and past his pupils. "He needs his rest, and you two aren't helping at all. You can both see him tomorrow, if he's ready."

They both ceased their arguing, then bowed towards the figures slowing making their way out of the room. "Master." Soon enough, they disappeared from view as Eraqus began to walk up the stairs. He began humming slightly as they entered a room and gently placed Roxas on the bed.

Roxas closed his eyes, the pain now gone, and was about to doze off.

"Listen very closely," Eraqus hissed in his ear, waking him with a jolt. "I don't want you to be getting any crazy ideas on escaping. If you do exactly what I say, we're all going to get along just fine."

Roxas gulped, wide-awake now. "W-what do you want from me?"

"What do I want from you?" Eraqus raised an eyebrow. "It's not what I want from you - it's what everyone expects from you."

Roxas felt his throat grow dry. "I don't understand."

"Listen, Ven." Eraqus put extra emphasis on the name. "You might not want to be here and you might want to go back to your friend. You might even wish you never met me. But let me tell you this, since you can't go back in time and prevent us from meeting. Starting from the moment we met, 'Roxas' stopped existing."

Now the blond was really confused. "But that makes no sense. I'm right here. And why did you call me Ven? Isn't that the name of your missing student?"

Eraqus sighed and pinched his nose. "I'm going to be real honest with you. You're not Roxas anymore. Your new name is Ven. You're his replacement."

The light of the situation being shown upon, Roxas quickly moved to get up from the bed, but was soon restricted by Eraqus' hands keeping him still. He struggled against him, kicking and screaming.

"Let me go! I'm not who you think I am!"

"Of course you're not him." His eyes looked far away, and he blinked before narrowing his eyes on the figure on the bed. "And I don't think so. You look exactly alike, not even the others knew that you were a complete stranger. They all thought that you were him, their best friend. And if they couldn't tell the difference, then no one can. No one will ever know."

"Not if I expose you for the liar you are! They can tell!" Roxas spat out, trying to free himself from the man's hold, which only tightened.

Eraqus smirked. "It's your word against mine, on a world populated by just the four of us. Who do you think they're going to believe?"

"They'll believe the truth! I'm not him!" Roxas answered desperately, needing reassurance from himself at least.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Eraqus placed his hand on Roxas' forehead, glowing faintly.

"We don't even have the same mannerisms… I have no idea how to act the part, even if I wanted to," Roxas murmured, suddenly becoming very sleepy again.

"Trust me, you'll pick them up. Think of it this way," Eraqus spoke gently. "You'll have a chance to start a new life. Mind you, a life already established, but you wouldn't want to be you anymore."

"But I…liked…being me…" Roxas murmured.

"And you'll like the new you, too. Eventually." The teacher's hand stopped glowing, and he moved it down to close Roxas' eyes.

Satisfied with the sound of light breathing, indicating that the replacement was now asleep, the man caressed his cheek and made his way out of the room.

"Sleep tight, Ven," he said as he shut off the light and closed the door, leaving the Nobody to his dreams.


End file.
